Milk at breakfast can help manage diabetes risk

The findings showed that milk consumed with a high-carbohydrate breakfast reduced blood glucose even after lunch, and high-protein milk had a greater effect

If you are diabetic, then consuming milk at breakfast can help lower blood glucose level throughout the day, suggests a study. The findings showed that milk consumed with a high-carbohydrate breakfast reduced blood glucose even after lunch, and high-protein milk had a greater effect.

Milk with an increased proportion of whey protein had a modest effect on pre-lunch blood glucose, achieving a greater decrease than that provided by regular milk.

The high-protein treatment also reduced appetite after the second meal compared with the low-protein equivalent.

"Metabolic diseases are on the rise globally, with type-2 diabetes and obesity as leading concerns in human health," said Professor Douglas Goff, from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

"Thus, there is impetus to develop dietary strategies for the risk reduction and management of obesity and diabetes to empower consumers to improve their personal health," he added.

For the study, published in the Journal of Dairy Science, the team included over 100 persons to examine the effects of increasing protein concentration and increasing the proportion of whey protein in milk consumed with a high-carbohydrate breakfast cereal on blood glucose, feelings of satiety, and food consumption later in the day.

Although the team only found a modest difference in food consumption at the lunch meal when increasing whey protein at breakfast, they found that milk consumed with breakfast cereal reduced postprandial blood glucose concentration compared with water, and high dairy protein concentration reduced postprandial blood glucose concentration compared with normal dairy protein concentration.

"This study confirms the importance of milk at breakfast time to aid in the slower digestion of carbohydrate and to help maintain lower blood sugar levels. Nutritionists have always stressed the importance of a healthy breakfast, and this study should encourage consumers to include milk," Goff said.

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