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Nutrition & Product Information
Diabetes Mellitus & Dairy Food Consumption
Executive Summary
Carolyn D. Berdanier, PhD
Professor of Nutrition Emerita
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
Diabetes mellitus is a genetic disease that is prevalent in western societies. It is a rapidly expanding population group that is of concern to health professionals. People with diabetes are at greater risk for vascular disease, renal disease, blindness, circulatory problems leading to amputation, and in general have shorter life spans than people without diabetes. About 10% of those with this disease have mutations in the more than 100 genes that encode the immune system. Mutations in the immune system genes can result in an increase in susceptibility to pathogen-induced destruction of the pancreatic insulin-producing islet cell or can result in a loss antigen recognition specificity. This loss is called autoimmune disease.
The body loses its ability to distinguish foreign proteins from self-proteins and results in the destruction of the islet cells. Finnish researchers hypothesized that early cows milk exposure could trigger autoimmune disease. Subsequent studies by a variety of scientists have shown that this hypothesis is without merit. Research is needed to elucidate the mechanism of autoimmune disease and whether the phenotypic expression of the aberrant immune system genotpye can be manipulated by diet.
The majority of people with diabetes have the disease due to mutations in one or more of the genes that are involved in glucose homeostasis. More than 200 of these mutations have been reported. In some, the mutation expresses itself as both obesity and diabetes. In others, the mutation expresses itself as obesity first then diabetes. Still others have a fatty liver but are not overly fat. The number of people who are obese is rising and so too is the number of people who have diabetes. There may be a relationship. Health professionals are seeking ways to intervene with the development of obesity in the hope that they will also intervene with the development of diabetes. Only a few intervention studies have been conducted, however, it is clear that if obesity can be controlled there will be the benefit that obesity-related diabetes will likewise be controlled.
Dairy foods per se have not been studied, but should be with respect to diet interventions. They have an important role in health maintenance and may have some unique properties with respect to diabetes intervention as well. Research is needed to examine the roles of dairy foods in diabetes intervention as well as diabetes management. Research needs to address not only the roles of dairy foods in obesity/diabetes abatement but also on the roles of dairy foods in such aspects of glucose intolerance as insulin sensitivity, gluconeogenesis, glucose oxidation, and mitochondrial metabolism. Studies in rodents have shown that the fatty acid profile of dairy fat in particular has particular effects on these measures and could have a positive effect on the regulation of intermediary metabolism. Through effects on membrane composition, the activity of the membrane embedded proteins could be manipulated. Studies in humans are needed to determine whether such effects can be confirmed.
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