Relationship Between Dairy Intake and Hospitalization Risk and Disease Severity in Patients With COVID-19

• Published in: Clinical nutrition research Vol. 12; no. 4; pp. 283 - 292
• Main Authors: Abbas-Hashemi, Seyed Ali, Yari, Zahra, Soltanieh, Samira, Salavatizadeh, Marieh, Karimi, Sara, Ardestani, Sussan K., Salehi, Mohammadreza, Jahromi, Soodeh Razeghi, Ghazanfari, Tooba, Hekmatdoost, Azita
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korean Society of Clinical Nutrition 27.10.2023
• Subjects: Original
• ISSN: 2287-3732; 2287-3740
• DOI: 10.7762/cnr.2023.12.4.283

The aim of this study was to investigate whether dairy intake was associated with the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease and the probability of hospitalization of patients. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 141 patients with COVID-19 with an average age of 46.23 ± 15.88 years. The number of men (52.5%) participating in this study was higher than that of women. The association between dairy intake and COVID-19 was evaluated by multivariable logistic regression analysis. The risk of hospitalization in the highest tertile of dairy intake was 31% lower than in the lowest tertile (odds ratio [OR], 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.37-1.25, p trend = 0.023). Higher milk and yogurt intake was associated with a reduced risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19. Patients in the third tertiles were about 65% (p for trend = 0.014) and 12% (p for trend = 0.050) less likely to be hospitalized than those in the first tertile, respectively. Dairy consumption, especially low-fat ones, was associated with a lower risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19 and lower severity of COVID-19.