Dairy products may protect against diabetes

A research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that overweight young adults may lower their risk of developing diabetes by regularly consuming dairy products.

The study found that the frequent consumption of dairy products lowered the risk of insulin resistance syndrome, a key risk factor for the development of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Insulin resistance syndrome occurs when the body's cells become resistant to insulin. It results in abnormal blood glucose levels and an overproduction of insulin. Characteristics of insulin resistance syndrome include obesity, elevated blood pressure and blood lipids.

The multicenter population-based prospective study followed more than 3000 male and female young adults, between the ages of 18 and 30, for 10 years. In this study, people were defined as being overweight if they had a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or over.

The study concluded that overweight subjects who consumed dairy foods at least five times per day, had a 72 per cent lower risk of developing insulin resistance syndrome than those consuming dairy foods less than 1.5 times per day. Both full-fat and reduced fat dairy products were consumed by the participants and were found to be equally effective. However, the study found no link between dairy consumption and an increase in cholesterol amongst overweight subjects.

The exact cause of the beneficial effect was unclear, with the author citing calcium, potassium, magnesium, protein, lactose or dairy fats as potentially having a protective role.

Mark A. Pereira, an epidemiologist at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School pointed out that sugars present in milk are complex. It is very different from the sugars in candy. They are converted to blood sugar at a lower rate. In addition, milk contains a lot of useful protein, which means people who drink milk are less likely to eat too much because it is more filling. The carbohydrate in milk is lactose. Some people have a deficiency of lactase, the enzyme needed to digest lactose. Lactase deficiency occurs in about 15 percent of whites and perhaps 80 percent of blacks and Asians, causing abdominal cramps, bloating, diarrhea and other problems.

Thus including dairy products in our daily diet protect against diabetes and heart disease.