A Prospective Study of Dairy Food Intake and Early Menopause

Abstract

Early natural menopause, the cessation of ovarian function prior to age 45, affects ~10% of women and increases risk of cardiovascular disease and other conditions. Laboratory evidence suggests a potential role of dairy foods in the ovarian aging process; however, no prior epidemiologic studies have evaluated how dairy intake is associated with risk of early menopause. We therefore evaluated how intakes of total, low-fat, high-fat and individual dairy foods are associated with early menopause in the Nurses' Health Study II. Women who were premenopausal at the start of follow-up in 1991 were followed until 2011 for early menopause. Food frequency questionnaires were used to assess dietary intake. In Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for age, smoking, and other factors, total baseline dairy intake of ≥4 servings/day versus <4 servings/week was associated with 23% lower risk of early menopause (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.64, 0.93; P-trend = 0.08). Associations appeared to be limited to low-fat dairy foods (≥2 servings/day versus <3 servings/month HR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.68, 1.01; P-trend = 0.02), whereas high-fat dairy intake was not associated with early menopause. Low-fat dairy foods may represent a modifiable risk factor to reduce risk of early menopause among premenopausal women.