Scientists from the University of Washington found that dairy foods do not change blood sugar in people with metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that occur together, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
These conditions include increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels.
Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from milk. The Dairy Group includes milk, yogurt, cheese, lactose-free milk, fortified soy milk, and yogurt.
In the study, researchers aimed to compare the effects of diets rich in low-fat or full-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese on blood sugar control with the effects of a low-dairy diet.
They tested 72 people with metabolic syndrome who completed a four-week diet limiting dairy intake.
They were then assigned to either continue the low-dairy diet or switch to a diet containing 3.3 servings/d of either low-fat or full-fat dairy for 12 wk.
The researchers checked blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, pancreatic function, inflammation, liver fat, and body weight and composition.
They found no diet effect on blood sugar. Both the low-fat and full-fat dairy diets decreased insulin sensitivity as compared with the limited dairy group.
Body weight also changed differentially, increasing on full-fat dairy compared with the limited dairy diet, whereas the low-fat dairy diet was not different from the other interventions.
No intervention effects were detected for liver fat content or systemic inflammation.
Based on these findings, researchers suggest that contrary to their hypothesis, neither dairy diet improved blood sugar in people with metabolic syndrome.
Both dairy diets decreased insulin sensitivity through mechanisms largely unrelated to changes in key determinants of insulin sensitivity.
The research is published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and was conducted by Kelsey A Schmidt et al.
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