The association of milk consumption with the occurrence of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis

Objective. To evaluate the association of nutritional factors with symptomatic knee OA. M e t h o d s . This cross-sectional study was performed face-to-face using a s t ru c t u red interv i e w. Individuals who had a diagnosis of symptomatic knee OA and were aged 50 years or over were included in this study. The fre quency of consumption of dairy products, meat/poultry, fish, cereals, veg etables, tea and coffee were also determined. The diagnosis of knee OAwas made clinically or clinically and radiologically according to the ACR criteria for knee OA. Results. A total of 655 subjects was interviewed. The frequency of sympto matic knee OA was significantly lower in daily milk consumers (p<0.05). Tea consumption was also inversely associated with symptomatic knee OA (p < 0.05), although other nutritional elements showed no significant relationship with OA. C o n c l u s i o n . Milk consumption may have beneficial effects on symptomatic knee OA.