Yogurt may ward off diabetes risk

Consumption of yogurt and low-fat cheese can reduce the risk of developing diabetes by a quarter, a new Cambridge study claims.

The research at the University of Cambridge shows that higher consumption of yogurt, compared with no consumption, can reduce the risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes by 28 per cent.

Scientists found that in fact higher consumption of low-fat fermented dairy products, which include all yogurt varieties and some low-fat cheeses, also reduced the relative risk of diabetes by 24 per cent overall.

"This research highlights that specific foods may have an important role in the prevention of type 2 diabetes and are relevant for public health messages," lead scientist Dr Nita Forouhi, from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit at Cambridge, said.

The research was based on the large study which included more than 25,000 men and women living in Norfolk, UK.

It compared a detailed daily record of all the food and drink consumed over a week at the time of study entry among 753 people who developed new-onset type 2 diabetes over 11 years of follow-up with 3,502 randomly selected participants.

This allowed the researchers to examine the risk of diabetes in relation to the consumption of total dairy products and also types of individual dairy products.

The consumption of total dairy, total high-fat dairy or total low-fat dairy was not associated with new-onset diabetes once important factors like healthier lifestyles, education, obesity levels, other eating habits and total calorie intake were taken into account.

Total milk and cheese intakes were also not associated with diabetes risk, researchers said.

Those with the highest consumption of low-fat fermented dairy products (such as yogurt, fromage frais and low-fat cottage cheese) were 24 per cent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes over the 11 years, compared with non-consumers.

When examined separately from the other low-fat fermented dairy products, yogurt, which makes up more than 85 per cent of these products, was associated with a 28 per cent reduced risk of developing diabetes.

This risk reduction was observed among individuals who consumed an average of four and a half standard 125g pots of yogurt per week.

The study was published in the journal Diabetologia.