Eighteen separate results from fifteen prospective cohort studies, with 28,138 stroke events among 764,635 participants, were included in the review. Total dairy (RR: 0.88), low-fat dairy (0.91), fermented milk (0.80) and cheese (0.94) were significantly associated with a reduced risk of stroke.
On the contrary, whole/high-fat dairy, non-fermented milk, butter and cream were not significantly associated with a risk of stroke. The association is also stronger for deaths by stroke than for incidence, and for studies conducted in Asia. Gender has no influence on the results.