Does Whole Milk Reduce Diabetes?

Full-fat foods are back in the headlines in light of the recent proclamations by the USDA. I don’t know about you, but it’s been decades since I drank whole milk or ate whole fat yogurt or cheese. It’s not just about the calories; it just doesn’t seem to taste as good. Have I been missing something? Headlines tend to exaggerate, especially when they are based on press releases. Let’s take a look behind the headlines at the research behind the proclamation.

In the first paper, researchers examined the data from both the Nurses Health Study and the Healthcare Professionals Follow-up Study. I’ve talked about these large studies many times before. They examined blood samples taken in the 1990s for fatty acids that would typically come from eating and drinking milk products. In a sub-sample of subjects, those who had higher fatty acids from milk products in their plasma and blood cells had a 45% reduced rate of developing type 2 diabetes an average of 15 years later.

We’ll take a look at the second study on Thursday. (We’ve still been having computer problems—that’s why you’re getting the Memo today instead of last Saturday and why we’re sending a second Memo on Thursday.)

The next webinar, Taking Back Your Muscle, Part 2: Protein, is available for purchase now. If you’ve ever had any questions about protein, amino acids, or creatine, this webinar is for you. I added one more topic that fits with protein and that’s the role of peptides, short chains of amino acids that are a hot topic today. Find out what they are, what do they do, and how much you need by joining me Sunday at 1.p.m.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2016/03/22/CIRCULATIONAHA.115.018410