Yoghurt may cut diabetes risk, but not butter, milk and cheese

A YOGHURT a day appears to cut the risk of diabetes, but other dairy products offer no protection, research suggests.

A YOGHURT a day appears to cut the risk of diabetes, according to an overview of research. However, other dairy products such as butter, milk and cheese offer no protection, according to scientists at Harvard who suggest that it might be a good idea to eat yoghurt regularly.

Nutrients such as calcium and magnesium or “good” bacteria in yoghurt may protect against diabetes. Researchers say urgent tests are needed to discover whether people should be advised to change what they put on their cereal.

Previous research suggested that even fatty dairy products such as cream might cut the risk of diabetes, prompting scientists to consider whether there might be good saturated fats as well as bad.

In the latest study, scientists looked at the diets of almost 200,000 people in three long-running trials, of whom 15,000 developed type 2 diabetes. They found no link between dairy products and diabetes risk, nor a difference between high and low-fat products. However, each daily serving of yoghurt was linked with a 17 per cent reduction in the risk of diabetes, according to the report in the journal BMC Medicine. They cross-referenced the findings against the results of 14 trials covering almost half a million people. Final analysis suggested that each serving of yoghurt cut the risk by 18 per cent.

Frank Hu, of the Harvard School of Public Health, the senior author of the paper, said: “We found that higher intake of yoghurt was associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas other dairy foods and consumption of total dairy did not show this association.”

Researchers suggested that for other dairy products, the downside of eating more fat cancelled out any positive effect of vitamins and minerals from milk. They also suggested that probiotic bacteria, which have been shown to cut harmful fats and cholesterol, may also play a role.

The same team previously found that people who ate yoghurt regularly were less likely to put on weight.

Alasdair Rankin, director of research at Diabetes UK, said: “This work adds to evidence that people who eat yoghurt are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, but what it doesn’t tell us is whether eating yoghurt can directly reduce the risk. It could be that those eating yoghurt were more likely to lead a healthy lifestyle.”

He said that more research was needed, but until then “the best way to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes is by maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active and eating a healthy balanced diet.”

The Times