Dairy is good for your health

The news websites are full of good news about dairy this week. First up, the study published at this year’s European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting. Results from a Swedish long-term tracking of diet showed that participants who ate eight portions of high-fat dairy per day, including cream and whole milk, had a 23% lower incidence of developing diabetes than those that ate one portion per day. Dairy fat was found to have protective mechanisms against diabetes, the researchers say.

So, that’s good news. I turn to another website, (www.nrcresearchpress.com) and there is study in Quebec, where the researchers from CHU de Québec Research Center and Laval Universit recruited a number of participants and then monitored their intake of dairy. At two to four portions of milk-based products per day, the effect on metabolic health was said to be a positive one, although more research is needed. In fact, the trans-palmitoleic acid level was related to lower blood pressure in men and women, and to lower body weight in men.

More good news from the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. A Taiwanese study that monitored the effects of dairy on a population that has only recently been consuming more milk-based products. A study of nearly 4,000 Taiwanese, led by Emeritus Professor Mark Wahlqvist from Monash University’s Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine and the Monash Asia Institute, considered the role increased consumption of dairy foods had played in the country’s gains in health and longevity.

“Those who ate no dairy had higher blood pressure, higher body mass index and greater body fatness generally than other groups. But Taiwanese who included dairy food in their diet only three to seven times a week were more likely to survive than those who ate none,” says Wahlqvist.

That’s it. Dairy is good for you. We knew that.