Eating yogurt may reduce type 2 diabetes risk

ISLAMABAD: Higher consumption of yoghurt can reduce the risk of new onset type 2 diabetes by 28 per cent.

According to researchers, specific foods may have an important role in the prevention of type 2 diabetes and are relevant for public health messages, Health News reported.

The research included more than 25,000 men and women and it compared a detailed daily record of all the food and drink consumed over a week among 753 people who developed new onset type 2 diabetes over 11 years of follow up.

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.

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

The same applies to other low-fat fermented dairy products such as low-fat unripened cheeses including fromage frais and low-fat cottage cheese.

Fermented dairy products may have beneficial effects against diabetes through probiotic bacteria and a special form of vitamin K (part of the menaquinone family) associated with fermentation.

In the age of fast food it is very reassuring to have messages about foods like yoghurt and low fat fermented dairy products that could be good for our health, researchers added.