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In a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Dr. Mario Kratz, associate professor in Fred Hutch’s division of public health sciences, led a team that examined the impact of dairy products on regulating sugar levels in the blood in people with metabolic syndrome.
The project was motivated by previous observational studies that suggested that people who ate more yogurt or high-fat dairy products tended to have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
The results of the new study led by Fred Hutch showed that the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels was not directly affected by whether participants consumed dairy products. However, consuming low-fat or whole milk, yogurt, and cheese reduced insulin sensitivity.
Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors that increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and other health problems. Insulin sensitivity refers to how the body’s cells respond to insulin. High insulin sensitivity allows the body’s cells to use blood sugar more effectively by reducing blood sugar.
The study involved 72 male and female volunteers who had metabolic syndrome. Using a parallel, randomized, controlled study, the research team randomized the volunteers into three groups for 12 weeks: a limited dairy diet, consisting of no dairy products other than – at most – three servings of skim milk per week; a low-fat dairy diet consisting of more than three servings of skim milk, low-fat yogurt, and low-fat cheese per day; and a whole milk diet, consisting of more than three servings of whole milk, whole yogurt, and whole cheese per day.
After 12 weeks, Kratz and his team measured a variety of biomarkers, including blood sugar during a glucose tolerance test, systemic inflammation, and fat content in the liver. They found that blood sugar regulation was not directly influenced by participants consuming dairy products.
However, participants in the high-fat dairy diet gained a modest amount of weight, and participants in both low-fat and low-fat dairy diets saw a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
A reduction in insulin sensitivity could lead to an increased long-term risk of type 2 diabetes; However, since blood sugar levels were not affected by dairy, the long-term impact of reduced insulin sensitivity in people on a dairy-rich diet on type 2 diabetes risk is unclear.
“Unlike previous observational studies that suggested a beneficial relationship between fermented dairy products such as yogurt, as well as high-fat dairy products and better metabolic health, our rigorous randomized controlled trial could not confirm that eating more dairy products. lowers people’s blood sugar levels “Kratz said.
“Although more work needs to be done to examine the impact of dairy-rich diets in healthy populations, the discovery of reduced insulin sensitivity resulting from increased dairy intake can be concerning for people with metabolic syndrome and similar conditions such as prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. “
Kratz said a single study should always be interpreted with caution. First, the dairy-rich diets did not reduce insulin sensitivity in any of the previous studies. He added that it is important to consider that even though the dairy-rich diets reduced insulin sensitivity, this did not lead to higher blood sugar levels in these participants.
Since blood sugar is the clinical endpoint that the research team was most concerned about (and it was the primary endpoint in this study), they said the interpretation is not straightforward.
Furthermore, when evaluating the general health effects of a food group such as dairy, the impact of food on regulating blood sugar levels is just one of many considerations.
Kratz is a member of the editorial board of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. He received funding for this study from several dairy organizations, including the National Dairy Council of the United States and the Dairy Farmers of Canada.
Dairy funding organizations suggested changes to the study design details prior to conducting the study, some of which have been implemented. Otherwise, the funding organizations had no impact on the design or conduct of the trial, or on the analysis and interpretation of the study data.
The research team also received multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veteran Affairs which indirectly supported this project.
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