Type 2 Diabetes: “One of the two major types of diabetes, the type in which the beta cells of the pancreas produce insulin but the body is unable to use it effectively because the cells of the body are resistant to the action of insulin.”
Growing up, i’ve always been very educated about Diabetes. My mom and brother both have type 2. They have always told me to eat lots of yogurt because it helps prevent chances of developing type 2. I’ve always wondered why this is? What is in the yogurt that helps prevent type 2?
What’s in Yogurt?
Yogurt is very beneficial to the human body. Yogurt is known as a “good” bacteria for the body, it provides us with “calcium, vitamin D, protein, and, in some brands, probiotics.” A term that is used very often in relation to yogurt is ”probiotics.” Probiotic means, “for life” which “refers to living organisms that can result in a health benefit when eaten in adequate amounts.” Also, the fact that yogurt comes from milk, provides “yogurt eaters will also get a dose of animal protein (about 9 grams per 6-ounce serving), plus several other nutrients found in dairy foods, like calcium, vitamin B-2, B-12, potassium, and magnesium.”
Experiment
In the following experiment, researchers from Harvard School of Public Health, looked at the findings of three studies that tracked the “medical history and lifestyle habits of health professionals.” The total number of people that were qualified for this study was 194,519. After the participants filled out surveys about their medical history and health, and then checked up on every two years. However, after looking at the surveys, researchers eliminated participants who “did not include information about their dairy consumption and 
those with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer at the start of the survey.”
With the remaining participants, researchers found “15,156 cases of type 2 diabetes developing during the follow-up period.” After examining the details, they found that ones total dairy intake does not correlate to type 2 diabetes risk. For further investigation, researchers examined “individual dairy products, including skim milk, cheese, and yogurt.”
According to Medical News Today, “A meta-analysis was then carried out, comparing these findings with those from other studies that had examined the association between dairy products and type 2 diabetes up until March 2013. This analysis found that eating a 28 g serving of yogurt every day was associated with an 18% lower risk of type 2 diabetes developing.”
Null- Hypothesis: Yogurt does not help prevent type 2 diabetes.
Alternative Hypothesis: Yogurt helps prevent type 2 diabetes.
My Opinion
I feel this experiment is very well conducted. By rejecting the null hypothesis, it proves that in fact, yogurt has an affect on the risk of type 2 diabetes. In my opinion, the study did a great job of finding the information they needed. When they did not get the exact outcome they expected the first time, they went into greater detail to find the answer the second time around. However, this was just an observational experiment. If I was to conduct this experiment I would make it an experimental research. Instead of just filling out a survey, I would have participants come into an office and be t
ested for their medical health by doctors, who would take their blood, blood pressure, heart rate, etc. Then, after gathering all the information about each patient, I would have them be split up into two groups. One group would eat yogurt at least once each day. The other group would not eat yogurt at all. I would still check on them, however maybe every 6 months instead of every 2 years. After about 4 years have passed, I would have them come back into the office and have them get the same checkup at they did in the beginning of the experiment. After getting the results, I could compare the health of the participants who ate the yogurt with the participants who did not.
Sources:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-02/d-ssy020414.php
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/820273
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/285964.php
This is a very interesting topic, and I had no idea that yogurt could reduce the chance of developing type 2 diabetes. I’d be curious to see what kind of yogurt they used for the study. This article explains how some yogurt brands and flavors can contain more sugar than a twinkie. It would be interesting to see if the researchers used one of these yogurts, or if they specifically picked a yogurt that is lower in sugar (there are many options that are). This was a great post, and you picked a reliable study to support your conclusions.
I think this article is extremely interesting especially because of how prevalent type 2 diabetes has become in today’s day in age. I also found this to be extremely surprising because of the bad reputation the dairy industry has with regards to cancer and GMO’s specifically found in yogurt. The experiment was very interesting because it did not take into factor the amount of existing third variables such as type of yogurt, amount etc. anyways really interesting post!