According to a study in the November issue of The Journal of Nutrition, a diet high in low-fat dairy products is associated with lower diabetes risk in postmenopausal women, particularly those who are obese.

The study involved 82,076 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study who did not report diabetes at enrollment. During a follow-up questionnaire eight years later, 3,946 cases of diabetes were reported. After controlling for diet, researchers found that low-fat dairy consumption was inversely associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes; in other words, higher consumption was associated with lower risk.

“The inverse relationship was more pronounced in women with a higher (body mass index),” the researchers wrote in this abstract. “Higher yogurt consumption was associated with a significant decrease in diabetes risk,” they said.

“Type 2 diabetes is a debilitating and costly disease that could, if not reined in over the next 10 to 20 years, break the health-care bank,” says Greg Miller, president of the Dairy Research Institute and executive vice president of the National Dairy Council. “This research contributes to a growing body of work that indicates adequate amounts of dairy may play an important role in decreasing the risk of this disease.”

 From the November 28, 2011, Prepared Foods' Daily News.