When your blood sugar levels are not quite high enough for diabetes but singificantly higher than normal, you've got prediabetes. Which means you're at higher risk of diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
There are many dietary approaches to bringing those sugar levels down to normal, and virtually all of them say you should eat and drink lower-fat dairy products.
Until now.
Now, a new study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests otherwise: specifically high-fat milk and yogurt.
The study followed more than 74,000 Swedish adults over 4 years. First, researchers examined their blood samples for fatty acid levels and collected information about their lifestyles. Then, 4 years later, they monitored Swedish health registries too see which of the participants had developed what.
Some 3.7% of participants had developed prediabetes. Moreover, the prediabetic group had been drinking low-fat milk, while those who had been eating high-fat yogurt had a lower risk.
Some 17 previous studies had similar results. A study in Australia, for example, found that high-fat dairy had a protective effect, while low-fat didn't.
Because it tends to be digested more slowly, high-fat dairy may not raise blood sugar as fast as low-fat.
But before you start making radical changes to your diet, here are two things to bear in mind:
There's no one approach for everyone with prediabetes.
Correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation.
This echoes our guiding principle at Senior Insights. For senior care, as for so many factors in human wellbeing, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. It does really depend on the individual. That’s why the first thing we do with new clients and their families is conduct a thorough three-part assessment of their physical, cognitive, and psychosocial needs. That way, we can custom-design a holistic, comprehensive senior care management plan based on each client’s individual values, preferences, likes and dislikes, relationships with family and friends, activities, hobbies, and interests.
If you contact us, we’ll be happy to tell you more. We'll even throw in glass of your choice of high- or low-fat milk.
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