Consumption of low-fat dairy foods for 6 months improves insulin resistance without adversely affecting lipids or bodyweight in healthy adults: a randomized free-living cross-over study

Abstract

BackgroundGiven the highly debated role of dairy food consumption in modulating biomarkers of metabolic syndrome, this study was conducted to examine the influence of long-term (6 month) dairy consumption on metabolic parameters in healthy volunteers under free-living conditions without energy restriction.MethodsTwenty-three healthy subjects completed a randomized, crossover trial of 12 months. Participants consumed their habitual diets and were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: a high dairy supplemented group instructed to consume 4 servings of dairy per day (HD); or a low dairy supplemented group limited to no more than 2 servings of dairy per day (LD). Baseline, midpoint, and endpoint metabolic responses were examined.ResultsEndpoint measurements of body weight and composition, energy expenditure, blood pressure, blood glucose, and blood lipid and lipoprotein responses did not differ (p > 0.05) between the LD and HD groups. HD consumption improved (p < 0.05) plasma insulin (-9%) and insulin resistance (-11%, p = 0.03) as estimated by HOMA-IR compared with the LD group.ConclusionsStudy results suggest that high dairy consumption (4 servings/d) may improve insulin resistance without negatively impacting bodyweight or lipid status under free-living conditions.Trial registrationTrial registration: NCT01761955

Dairy food products: good or bad for cardiometabolic disease?

“…More recently Maki et al (96) , showed that there was no significant differences in fasting lipoprotein concentrations in sixty-two participants with prehypertension or stage 1 hypertension after 5 weeks of consuming one serving/d of low-fat dairy products compared with non-dairy products. It has also been observed that high dairy product consumption (four servings/d) did not significantly alter blood lipid and lipoprotein responses compared with low dairy product consumption (two servings/d) in twenty-three healthy participants over a 6-month period (97) .…”

“…Similarly, a number of intervention studies, which specifically investigated the effects of milk and other dairy fats, did not show significantly increased LDL-cholesterol (91)(92)(93)(94)(95)(96)(97) . Furthermore, there is evidence that fermented milk products are hypocholesterolaemic relative to non-fermented equivalents (93,98) .…”

“…In the study of Rideout et al (97) , twenty-three healthy subjects completed a cross-over RCT of 12 months. Participants consumed their habitual diets and were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups, i.e.…”

Dairy product consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes in an elderly Spanish Mediterranean population at high cardiovascular risk

“…Limited evidence suggests that insulin sensitivity can be improved when dairy consumption is promoted [6,7]. In addition, four meta-analyses of prospective studies have recently reported an overall reduced risk of T2D incidence in subjects with higher dairy consumption, particularly the low-fat variety [8][9][10][11].…”

Dairy consumption and insulin sensitivity: A systematic review of short- and long-term intervention studies

“…A 12-month randomised crossover study comparing high dairy (4 servings/day) or low dairy (no more than 2 servings/day) intake in 23 overweight but otherwise healthy participants found that fasting insulin levels were reduced in the high dairy diet (p < 0.05) thereby reducing insulin resistance (p < 0.05) [25]. Blood pressure, blood lipids, lipoproteins and fasting glucose did not differ between groups and weight and body composition remained stable.…”