Harvard scientists call for clinical trial to test yogurt for type 2 diabetes prevention.

The fact is that their preliminary work revealed a decrease in the risk of this disease with daily use of yogurt..

As reported in the online journal BMC Medicine, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts analyzed the results of early work that included data on the consumption of dairy products by 195,000 healthcare workers over several decades..

During this period, 15,000 participants developed type 2 diabetes..

Researchers find higher yogurt consumption is associated with a lower risk of diabetes. Based on these data, they recommend conducting a special study and recommend this product as a component of a healthy diet..

They say their analysis, while including nearly 200,000 people, is not designed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship between yogurt and diabetes, they say.. Only a clinical study can prove this connection..

Untreated diabetes leads to organ damage.

There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes usually begins in childhood. It is the result of the destruction of pancreatic cells by the patient's own immune system.. Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 95% of all cases, occurs due to a decrease in the body's sensitivity to insulin.. The pancreas tries to produce more hormone, but even this does not compensate for violations.

Individual diabetes risk depends on family history, diet and lifestyle. There are 366 million people with type 2 diabetes on the planet, and that number could reach 522 million by 2030, adding pressure to an already overburdened healthcare system..

Dairy products and type 2 diabetes.

In their study, HSPH Dietetics and Epidemiology Professor Fran Hu and her colleagues found no association between consumption of other dairy products and type 2 diabetes risk..

They considered cheese, kefir, milk, yogurt. And the latter turned out to be the only dairy product that can prevent diabetes.. The results remained significant after adding factors such as age, body mass index, presence of chronic diseases.

The analysis found that eating just 1 serving of yogurt every day resulted in an 18% lower risk of type 2 diabetes.. One serving is 28 grams of yogurt, which is about 2 tablespoons..

Professor Hu concluded: “We found that eating yogurt is associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, while other dairy products do not affect the risk of this disease.. These data support the need to include yogurt in healthy eating plans.”.

Previous research has shown that the bacteria that make up the normal human gut microflora help maintain the balance of fatty acids and antioxidants in the body.. Perhaps this is due to the effect of yogurt.

medbe. en.