A team of searchers from Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi’an, Shaanxi, P.R. China, analysed PubMed, EMBASE and Scopus for studies of dairy product intake and T2DM risk published up to the end of October 2012. They included 14 articles on cohort studies that reported RR estimates and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) of T2DM with intake of dairy products.
Results showed an inverse linear association between the total consumption of dairy products, low-fat dairy products, cheese and yogurt and the risk of T2DM. The pooled RRs were 0.94 and 0.88 for 200 g/day total and low-fat dairy consumption respectively. The pooled RRs were 0.80 and 0.91 for 30 g/d cheese and 50 g/d yogurt consumption respectively.
These results suggest that increasing the intake of dairy products such as low-fat dairy, cheese and yogurt may reduce the risk of T2DM. However, further cohort studies are warranted to investigate the specific types of dairy products in the association, any gender-specific recommendations, and biomarkers of dairy intake.
