Yogurt Every Day May Help Keep Diabetes Away

Eating a serving a day of yogurt may lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, new research suggests.

"The data we have gathered show that yogurt consumption can have significant benefit in reducing the risk of diabetes," said senior study author Dr. Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston. "It's not a huge effect, about an 18 percent reduction [in risk]." "Yogurt is not magic for curing or preventing diabetes," Hu said. "That's the bottom line and the message we want to convey to our consumers, that we have to pay attention to our diet pattern. There is no replacement for an overall healthy diet and maintaining [a healthy] body weight."

In type 2 diabetes, the body does not produce enough insulin or the body's cells develop a resistance to insulin, and blood sugar levels then get too high.

For the study, Hu and his team pooled the result of three large studies that tracked the medical histories and lifestyle habits of health professionals: the Health Professionals' Follow-up Study of more than 51,000 male health professionals; the Nurses' Health Study, which included more than 121,000 women nurses; and the Nurses' Health Study II, which followed nearly 117,000 women nurses.

During the study follow-up, there were about 15,000 cases of type 2 diabetes. When they looked at total dairy intake, they saw no effect on the risk of diabetes. However, when they zeroed in on yogurt, they found one serving a day was linked with about a 17 percent reduced risk.

The researchers next pooled their result with other published studies that looked at links between dairy foods and type 2 diabetes. They found a serving of yogurt a day reduced risk by 18 percent. The meta-analysis, in which all the results were pooled, includes 14 different groups with nearly 460,000 people. About 36,000 developed type 2 diabetes. The researchers took into account age, body-mass index and other lifestyle factors. Hu said they did not differentiate between types of yogurt, whether it was Greek-style yogurt or not, and the fat content.

While previous studies have found that yogurt is good for maintain a healthy body weight and lowering risk for type 2 diabetes, ''most of the studies were small," Hu said. So his team decided to look at much larger groups. Exactly how the yogurt may help is not certain. The thinking by many experts is that the probiotics in yogurt ("good" bacteria) alter the intestinal environment in a beneficial way, helping to reduce inflammation and improve the production of hormones important for appetite control, he said. The take-home message, Hu said, is that more study is needed, but that yogurt seems to have a place in a healthy diet.

Martin Binks, an associate professor of nutritional sciences at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, said that studies that look at diet are inherently limited in their ability to measure true dietary intake. Even so, he said, the link may warrant future study. It's too soon, however, to change advice about diet based on this research, Binks said.

Dr. Osama Hamdy, medical director of the Obesity Program at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, points out: "Yogurt in general is beneficial." But he said, "this is an association, not cause and effect."

Mediterranean diet can reverse metabolic disorder, lower risk of diabetes, obesity, heart disease

The Mediterranean diet doesn't just protect against heart disease: It may actually reverse metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms linked to heart disease and diabetes.

The findings came from a study conducted by researchers from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and the Hospital Universitari de Sant Joan de Reus in Reus, Spain.

"In this large, multicentre, randomized clinical trial involving people with high cardiovascular risk, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil was associated with a smaller increase in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome compared with advice on following a low-fat diet," the researchers wrote.

"Because there were no between-group differences in weight loss or energy expenditure, the change is likely attributable to the difference in dietary patterns."

A heart-healthy diet

Metabolic syndrome refers to a cluster of symptoms that is associated with a higher risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and premature death, and affects about 25 percent of all adults globally. The condition can be diagnosed in anyone who has three or more symptoms. Symptoms include high blood sugar, high triglycerides, low HDL ("good") cholesterol, high blood pressure and central obesity (a large waist circumference).

The researchers wondered how the Mediterranean diet could affect metabolic syndrome, because the diet has previously been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, as well as lead to better health, longer life and less age-related cognitive decline. For example, a 2013 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that people who ate a Mediterranean diet were about 30 percent less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than people who ate a low-fat diet.

The Mediterranean diet has high quantities of olive oil, seeds and nuts, whole grains and beans; moderate to high quantities of dairy, primarily in the form of yogurt and cheese; moderate quantities of fish and poultry; low to moderate consumption of red wine; and low consumption of red meat.

Metabolic syndrome decreased 30 percent

In the new study, researchers randomly assigned 5,801 adults between the ages of 55 and 80 who were considered at high risk of developing heart disease to follow one of three diets: a low-fat diet (control group), a Mediterranean diet plus extra olive oil or a Mediterranean diet plus extra nuts. Participants were followed for an average of 4.8 years.

By the end of the study, there was no difference between the three groups in the numbers who had developed new cases of metabolic syndrome. This showed that, despite being higher in fat, the Mediterranean diet did not worsen metabolic outcomes.

The more surprising outcome came among patients who already had metabolic syndrome at the beginning of the study. Among the groups on one of the two Mediterranean diets, the incidence of metabolic syndrome actually fell by 28.2 percent. Participants receiving extra olive oil were more likely to see decreases in central obesity and blood sugar, whereas participants receiving extra nuts were more likely to see a decrease in central obesity alone.

"Mediterranean diets supplemented with olive oil or nuts were not associated with a reduced incidence of metabolic syndrome compared with a low-fat diet; however, both diets were associated with a significant rate of reversion of metabolic syndrome," the researchers wrote.

Increasingly, research is suggesting that the benefits of the Mediterranean diet also extend far beyond metabolic health. In a 2010 study conducted by researchers from the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. The Mediterranean diet was found to lower the risk of developing depression by 30 percent -- even after researchers controlled for risk factors including anxiety, personality, lifestyle habits and family status.

Rosemary, oregano and marjoram extracts fight type 2 diabetes

Culinary herbs are generally recognized for the unique flavors that they add to food. But new research has identified medicinal benefits as another distinction, particularly with the herbs rosemary, oregano and marjoram, all of which contain special diabetes-fighting compounds.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) took a closer look at these three herbs, which earlier research has found can help keep blood sugar levels in check. Building upon this, Elvira Gonzalez de Mejia and her colleagues decided to test how each of these herbs impacts type 2 diabetes.

Greenhouse-grown varieties of Greek oregano (Origanum vulgare), marjoram (Origanum majorana), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and Mexican oregano (Lippia graveolens) were tested alongside dried commercial versions of these same herbs to see how they interact with two key enzymes involved in insulin secretion and signaling, dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) and protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B).

Both fresh and dried varieties of rosemary and oregano found to provide unique benefits

Compared to their dried commercial counterparts, the greenhouse-grown rosemary and oregano varieties were found to contain significantly higher polyphenol levels. They were also determined to be superior inhibitors of DPP-IV, an enzyme that under normal conditions removes excess incretin from the body. In diabetics, a lack of incretin can lead to high blood sugar, hence the need to reduce DPP-IV levels in order to compensate.

On the other hand, commercial dried varieties of rosemary, Mexican oregano and marjoram were found to be superior inhibitors of PTP1B, an enzyme that, when reduced or eliminated, helps enhance insulin signaling and tolerance. In other words, reducing PTP1B levels can not only help improve the body's response to sugar intake and metabolism but also help block the storage of damaging triglycerides.

Greenhouse-grown Mexican oregano and rosemary both contain phytochemicals that liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry testing found to have special binding affinities for DPP-IV. Hispidulin, carnosol and eriodictyol are included among these, while cirsimaritin, hispidulin and naringenin were found to be the most potent inhibitors of DPP-IV.

"There is a need to identify natural compounds that can aid in the management of this disease," wrote the authors in their study, which notes that 8.3 percent of Americans now suffer from type 2 diabetes, which costs the U.S. more than $175 billion annually to treat.

Oregano and rosemary may be safer, more beneficial than popular antidiabetic drugs

Though the herbs demonstrated efficacy similar to, or even exceeding, that of popular antidiabetic medications, the study's authors are hesitant to recommend that people ditch their drugs in favor of them. For now, they are toeing the usual line, saying that more testing is needed, though folks who want to try incorporating more rosemary and oregano into their diets now are sure to gain some benefits.