Cited by 370Nutritional Studies and DietProbiotics and Fermented FoodsNutrition, Genetics, and Disease

Dairy consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: 3 cohorts of US adults and an updated meta-analysis

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Chen, Mu, Sun, Qi, Giovannucci, Edward, Mozaffarian, Dariush, Manson, JoAnn E, Willett, Walter C, Hu, Frank B·2014·BMC Medicine

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The relation between consumption of different types of dairy and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) remains uncertain. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the association between total dairy and individual types of dairy consumptions and incident T2D in US adults. METHODS: We followed 41,436 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986 to 2010), 67,138 women in the Nurses' Health Study (1980 to 2010), and 85,884 women in the Nurses' Health Study II (1991 to 2009). Diet was assessed by validated food-frequency questionnaires, and data were updated every four years. Incident T2D was confirmed by a validated supplementary questionnaire. RESULTS: During 3,984,203 person-years of follow-up, we documented 15,156 incident T2D cases. After adjustment for age, body mass index (BMI) and other lifestyle and dietary risk factors, total dairy consumption was not associated with T2D risk and the pooled hazard ratio (HR) (95% confidence interval (CI)) of T2D for one serving/day increase in total dairy was 0.99 (0.98, 1.01). Among different types of dairy products, neither low-fat nor high-fat dairy intake was appreciably associated with risk of T2D. However, yogurt intake was consistently and inversely associated with T2D risk across the three cohorts with the pooled HR of 0.83 (0.75, 0.92) for one serving/day increment (P for trend <0.001). We conducted a meta-analysis of 14 prospective cohorts with 459,790 participants and 35,863 incident T2D cases; the pooled relative risks (RRs) (95% CIs) were 0.98 (0.96, 1.01) and 0.82 (0.70, 0.96) for one serving total dairy/day and one serving yogurt/day, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Higher intake of yogurt is associated with a reduced risk of T2D, whereas other dairy foods and consumption of total dairy are not appreciably associated with incidence of T2D.

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  • Yogurt and possibly some other forms of dairy, whole grains, and green leafy vegetables reduce the risk of diabetes.

    “For example, yogurt and possibly some other forms of dairy, whole grains, and green leafy vegetables reduce the risk of diabetes,42–44”

    From Worldwide trends in diabetes prevalence and treatment from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 1108 population-representative studies with 141 million participants (2024) · cites this paper as [42]

    The Conclusions report that higher yogurt intake is associated with lower type 2 diabetes risk, but say that trials are needed to test whether yogurt causes that reduction. They also report no appreciable association for other dairy foods overall. This dairy-focused source does not address the sentence’s whole-grain or green-leafy-vegetable examples, which may be covered by its other citations. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • In longitudinal studies evaluating habitual intakes of dairy foods, relationships with CVD and diabetes do not consistently differ by fat content but appear more specific to food type.

    “In longitudinal studies evaluating habitual intakes of dairy foods, relationships with CVD and diabetes do not consistently differ by fat content but appear more specific to food type: e.g., cheese, yogurt, milk, butter (Figure 6).57, 221-226”
  • Intake of yogurt, but not milk, is consistently associated with lower incidence of diabetes; cheese intake also associates with lower diabetes risk in several although not all studies.

    “For example, intake of yogurt, but not milk, is consistently associated with lower incidence of diabetes; while intake of cheese, which has high calorie, fat, and saturated fat content, also associates with lower diabetes risk in several although not all studies.57, 179-184, 224, 226-228”
  • In a large meta-analysis and the EPIC InterAct study, fermented dairy, but not total dairy, was inversely associated with T2DM.

    “In a large meta-analysis of cohort studies (13,000 incident cases), and the EPIC InterAct case-cohort study (12,000 incident cases), fermented dairy (i.e., yogurt, cheese, and thick fermented milk), but not total dairy, was inversely associated with T2DM (155,183).”

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Authors
Chen, M., Sun, Q., Giovannucci, E., Mozaffarian, D., Manson, J. E., Willett, W. C., & Hu, F. B.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
Corresponding author
Hu, Frank B
Venue
BMC Medicine
Published
2014-11-25
Volume
12
Issue
1
Pages
215-215
ISSN
1741-7015 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2153923696
Cited by
370
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 46 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 49 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 2
FWCI
36.82
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • BMC Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL060712, R00HL098459, R01HL034594)
  • National Cancer Institute (P01CA087969, P01CA055075)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK058845)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Nutrition, Genetics, and Disease
Keywords
dairy consumption, type 2 diabetes, yogurt, low-fat dairy, high-fat dairy, incident diabetes risk, dietary risk factors, Health Professionals Follow-up Study, Nurses' Health Study, Nurses' Health Study II
MeSH terms
Adult, Dairy Products, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Diet, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, United States, Yogurt, Cohort Studies, Incidence

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