Could Eating Low-Fat Yogurt Help Prevent Diabetes?

Some of us may have already been swayed by those Activia commercials. There's no doubt that Jamie Lee Curtis really sends the message home about regulating your digestive tract. But a recent study comes with even better news. Regular yogurt consumption-which previous studies have shown helps to lower blood pressure and protect healthy bones-could also help prevent diabetes.

For the study, researchers from the University of Cambridge found that higher consumption of low-fat dairy products-including all yogurt varieties and some low-fat cheeses-could potentially reduce the relative risk of diabetes by up to 24 percent, overall.

Lead study author Dr. Nita Forouhi of the university notes that the latest research "highlights that specific foods may have an important role in the prevention of type 2 diabetes and are relevant for public health messages."

The study involved participants in the EPIC-Norfolk study, which includes over 25,000 men and women living in Norfolk, U.K. Researchers then compared their daily food and drink consumption over a week based on data entry from their nutritional habits among participants who developed new-onset type 2 diabetes over 11 years of follow-up with 3,502 randomly selected study participants.

After taking into account certain lifestyle factors, such as weight, education and other eating habits, researchers found that high consumption of low-fat fermented dairy products was linked to a 24 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes over 11 years.

However, when analyzed separately, researchers found that low-fat fermented dairy products were associated with a 28 percent reduced risk of developing diabetes.

The reduction could be seen among those who ate an average of four and a half standard 125g pots of yogurt a week.

"At a time when we have a lot of other evidence that consuming high amounts of certain foods, such as added sugars and sugary drinks, is bad for our health, it is very reassuring to have messages about other foods like yogurt and low-fat fermented dairy products, that could be good for our health," Forouhi concluded, via a press release. 

What do you think?

More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Diabetologia.