According to scientists in Archives of Internal Medicine, "Diet and lifestyle modifications can substantially reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. While a strong inverse association has been reported between dairy consumption and the insulin resistance syndrome among young obese adults, the relation between dairy intake and type 2 diabetes is unknown.

"We prospectively examined the relation between dairy intake and incident cases of type 2 diabetes in 41,254 male participants with no history of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. During 12 years of follow-up, we documented 1,243 incident cases of type 2 diabetes. Dairy intake was associated with a modestly lower risk of type 2 diabetes," report the scientists.

"After adjusting for potential confounders, including body mass index, physical activity and dietary factors, the relative risk for type 2 diabetes in men in the top quintile of dairy intake was 0.77 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.62-0.95; p=0.003) compared with those in the lowest quintile," stated Hyon K. Choi and colleagues at Harvard University. "Each serving-per-day increase in total dairy intake was associated with a 9% lower risk for type 2 diabetes (multivariate relative risk, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.85-0.97). The corresponding relative risk was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.81-0.94) for low-fat dairy intake and 0.99 (95% CI, 0.91-1.07) for high-fat dairy intake. The association did not vary significantly according to body mass index (<25 versus greater than or equal to25 kg/m; p=0.57)."

The researchers concluded, "Dietary patterns characterized by higher dairy intake, especially low-fat dairy intake, may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes in men."

Choi and associates published their study in the Archives of Internal Medicine (“Dairy Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Men -- A Prospective Study.” Arch Intern Med, 2005;165(9):997-1003).

Additional information can be obtained by contacting Hyon K. Choi, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114. E-mail: hchoi@partners.org.