Yoghurt and diabetes

Diabetes is a major health issue around the world. In Australia it is estimated that four per cent of the population have the condition which is an increase from just 1.5 per cent of the population only 15 years ago. With such an increase in rates and the far reaching effects of the condition, there is much focus in medical circles on how to reduce what is usually referred to as the diabetes “epidemic”. Now a new study has found that a useful tool in preventing diabetes could be as simple as a tub of yoghurt.

The study involved data gathered from more than 25,000 women and men living in Norfolk in the UK. The researchers compared a detailed daily record of food and drink consumed over a week by 753 people who had been newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and compared it over 11 years of follow up with a group of more than 3500 people who had not developed diabetes. The focus of the study was to see if dairy consumption related to diabetes risk.

The results showed that consumption of dairy in general was not associated with developing diabetes for better or worse.

However, it did emerge that low-fat fermented dairy products like yoghurt and cottage cheese were associated with a reduced chance of developing diabetes. “Low fat” was defined as containing less than 3.9 per cent fat. Those who consumed these fermented foods regularly were 24 per cent less likely to develop diabetes over the 11 years of the study. The connection was even stronger for yoghurt where the reduction in risk was 28 per cent. The best risk reduction was observed in people who consumed an average of four and a half 125 gram tubs of yoghurt a week.

Yoghurt does provide calcium and vitamin but it is likely the probiotic bacteria that arise from the fermented nature of yoghurt that help in reducing diabetes risk. You will be best off, of course, to find a yoghurt with no added sugar. The evidence is certainly mounting that fermented foods (like yoghurt, sauerkraut, miso, kimchi and so on) are good things to have in your diet.