More than 360 million people in the world suffer from diabetes and estimates reveal that by 2030 this number could rise to 552 million. Now, a recent study carried out by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (USA) has discovered that the consumption of yogurt can reduce the risk of suffering from type 2 diabetes (the most common).
Type 2 diabetes causes the body to be unable to process glucose properly and makes people who suffer from it more prone to developing cardiovascular diseases such as cerebrovascular accident (stroke) or coronary heart disease.
The researchers compiled the results of three macro studies, analyzing the medical records or lifestyle habits of 194,519 people . None of the participants had diabetes or cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study. All of them had a follow-up every two years, in which they asked about their dairy consumption as well as the rest of the previous questions. During this period, 15,156 cases of type 2 diabetes emerged.
“We have found that a higher yogurt intake is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, while other foods and the consumption of dairy products in general (cheese, skim milk, etc.) did not show this association. The results regarding yogurt suggest that it can be incorporated into a healthy diet pattern, “says Frank Hu, study leader to the journal BMC Medicine .
Comparison of the results obtained in the study with other studies on the same subject revealed that consuming 28 grams of yogurt per day is the ideal amount to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by up to 18% .
