Patients who eat yogurt are about 28 percent less likely to get type 2 diabetes than those who did not eat it at all.
Researchers found low-fat fermented dairy products such as yogurt and some cheese reduced the "relative risk of diabetes by 24 percent overall," a Diabetologia news release reported.
"This research highlights that specific foods may have an important role in the prevention of type 2 diabetes and are relevant for public health messages," Lead scientist Doctor Nita Forouhi, from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge said in the news release.
Dairy products can provide important protein, vitamins and minerals but they also contain saturated fat which can be harmful to health if consumed in large quantities. Previous studies on the link between dairy products and diabetes have been inconclusive.
In this study researchers looked at 25,000 men and women who kept a daily record of their food intake. In the study 753 people developed type 2 diabetes over an 11 year follow up consisting of "3,502 randomly selected study participants," the news release reported.
The team found the "consumption of total dairy, total high-fat dairy or total low-fat dairy " was not related to diabetes risk when factors such as "healthier lifestyles, education, obesity levels, other eating habits and total calorie intake," were taken into consideration. Those with the highest consumption rates of low-fat fermented dairy products (like yogurt and low-fat cottage cheese)had a 24 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than non-consumers.
"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 yoghurt and low-fat fermented dairy products, that could be good for our health," Forouhi said.
