Eating this popular food could keep diabetes at bay

If you haven’t jumped on the yogurt bandwagon yet, this latest news could be enough to convince you.

A new study from Britain has found that those who eat cultured dairy products have a 24 percent lower risk of developing diabetes. Cultured, or fermented foods, are high in probiotics — also known as “good bacteria.”

And for those who eat the most common kind of fermented dairy, which is yogurt, there’s a 28 percent lower chance of getting the disease.

The researchers compared the eating habits of type 2 diabetics and healthy people from the same area in England.

They stopped short of saying yogurt helps ward off diabetes. But when almost a third of yogurt eaters didn’t get the disease, well, you can come to your own conclusion!

Since yogurt contains a lot of calcium, magnesium, and vitamins D and K, it’s a big boost to your immune system, which could explain the lower diabetes risk.

So how much do you need to eat to get these benefits? The researchers said that those who ate four to five cups a week seemed to be receiving the most protection.

But here’s where you need to be on the lookout. As yogurt has become more and more popular, the number of brands and varieties on the market has skyrocketed.

So before you buy any particular type, it’s important to check the label for live or active cultures. If it simply says “made with” active cultures, that’s not enough. To help keep you healthy, all that ‘good’ bacteria needs to still be alive when it enters your gut!

Oh, and be sure to avoid any yogurt made with artificial sweeteners, like aspartame. It might make you think it’s even better for controlling blood sugar. But that is another whole can of worms better left hermetically sealed.

Sources
“Eating yogurt may cut diabetes risk, new research shows” Melanie Haiken, February 6, 2014, Forbes, forbes.com