Including yogurt and cheese in your meals is an effective way of reducing your appetite and controlling blood glucose. This in turn may help to protect you against obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Prevention of obesity and type 2 diabetes is one of our biggest public health challenges of today. Eating foods that reduce appetite and lower the surge in blood glucose level that is seen after a meal could play an important role.
Evidence suggests that dairy products may be good candidates. However, as dairy foods vary in form and nutrient composition, different products might be expected to result in different effects, say the authors of this study.
A randomised crossover study was carried out in 30 healthy, non-obese, older adults (average age 64.6 years). The researchers compared the effects of dairy products on appetite, blood glucose and later food intake. Standard servings were given of 2% fat milk, 2% Greek yogurt, cheddar cheese and soy drinks, consumed as part of an isocaloric, high-glycaemic carbohydrate meal (bread and jam). High-glycaemic carbohydrate is broken down quickly during digestion and causes a rapid increase in blood glucose.
An unrestricted meal (rice, beef meatballs and tomato sauce) was served 3 hours after the carbohydrate meal to measure food intake.
Cheese and yogurt result in lower blood glucose than milk when consumed with carbohydrate
Cheese and yogurt resulted in lower blood glucose than milk and soy beverage after the carbohydrate meal. There were no differences between any of these when blood glucose was measured after the unrestricted meal.
There were no differences between cheese, yogurt, milk or soy drinks in blood insulin levels after the carbohydrate meal or unrestricted meal. This suggests that the differences in blood glucose levels were not due to the action of insulin.
Cheese and yogurt reduce appetite more than milk when consumed with carbohydrate
Cheese and yogurt suppressed appetite more than milk and soy beverage after the carbohydrate meal.
It is well-known that milk protein increases satiety (feeling full). However, although the yogurt serving contained 10 g more protein than the cheese serving, there were no differences in appetite between them. This might be explained by the fact that, unlike cheese, yogurt does not need to be chewed. Chewing has previously been shown to reduce hunger, possibly through hormonal mechanisms.
In addition, compared with yogurt, the cheese serving contained about three times the amount of fat, which is known to stimulate release of the satiety hormone, cholecystokinin.
Food intake was unaffected by dairy consumption
Cheese, yogurt, milk and soy beverage all resulted in similar food intake at the unrestricted meal.
The authors conclude that cheese and yogurt, when eaten with glycaemic carbohydrate at breakfast, increase satiety and lower blood glucose more than milk or a soy beverage. However, they point out that, as this study was carried out among healthy participants, it is yet to be seen whether the findings apply to people who are obese or have diabetes or pre-diabetes. It is these individuals who could benefit from this kind of research.
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