Drinking milk increases a woman's risk of a heart attack.

Women who drink milk are at greater risk of heart attacks

Women who drink milk are at greater risk of heart attacks

Scientists believe that the vast amounts of lactose in cow's milk cause harmful inflammation and cell damage, which ages the vital organ faster.

However, the risk only applies to women as men are better at digesting sugar.

A team at Uppsala University in Sweden studied 101,000 people and found that drinking 400ml of milk each day was linked to a five per cent increased risk of coronary heart disease.

Study author Professor Karl Michaelsson wrote in the journal BMC Medicine: "A healthy diet is essential for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

"Our analysis supports an association between milk intake higher than 300ml per day and higher rates of ischaemic heart disease, and myocardial infarction (heart attack) specifically, in women, but not in men.

"The higher risk in women was evident irrespective of the fat content of the milk."