A lot of you probably keep up with the latest health news, especially as it relates to diabetes. Late last year, one of the newsworthy items had to do with soy yogurt and diabetes. Not exactly a topic of great excitement, you might be thinking, but this story has generated sparks of interest, especially in the blogging community.
In a study published in the December 2006 issue of the Journal of Food Biochemistry, researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, examined different kinds of yogurt—plain and fruited, including soy yogurt—for compounds that might help control diabetes.
There are certain diabetes medicines, called alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, that target enzymes in the digestive tract. These enzymes, alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase, are involved in carbohydrate digestion. Blocking the action of these enzymes helps slow the digestion of carbohydrate, thus slowing the typical rise in blood glucose after eating a meal. The researchers in the yogurt study tested the different types of yogurt to see if they had any effect on these enzymes.
The researchers were also interested in how the various types of yogurt affected another enzyme, called angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE-I), which might sound familiar to you if you happen to take an ACE inhibitor for your blood pressure or kidney health. ACE-I can cause blood vessels to narrow, thereby raising blood pressure.
Plant compounds can block all three of these enzymes, opening the door for the use of more natural therapies. Of course, drugs are effective, but as we all know, drug therapy can sometimes have unpleasant and even harmful side effects.
Samples of peach, blueberry, strawberry, and plain yogurts (all different brands, including a soy brand) were tested for their ability to block these three enzymes. Interestingly, the blueberry soy yogurt packed the most punch by blocking all three enzymes. The peach and strawberry yogurts did a pretty good job, too, and even the plain soy yogurt fared well.
It’s known that fruit and soy products contain natural compounds called phenols. Phenols are known to boost heart health and are found in tea, red wine, and dark chocolate, among other foods. In this experiment, the yogurts with the highest phenol content—the plain soy yogurt and the blueberry dairy yogurts—were the best at blocking the enzyme alpha-glucosidase. The soy yogurts were also the best at inhibiting ACE-I.
While this experiment didn’t involve human subjects, it did add to the arsenal of evidence that diets rich in fruits and vegetables (and soy) may help protect against certain diseases.
But don’t stop taking your diabetes or blood pressure medicines just yet. What isn’t known is how much blueberry yogurt, for example, a person would have to eat to see an improvement in blood glucose or blood pressure readings. And while you might already be eating yogurt for a snack or as part of a meal, you still need to consider the carbohydrate content. On average, a six-ounce serving of a fruited soy yogurt contains about 30 grams of carbohydrate (the amount found in two slices of bread or in a medium-sized banana), along with 160 calories and 2 grams of fat. The nutrition content of many fruited dairy yogurts is similar.
So, despite its potential benefits, yogurt isn’t a “free” food. Go ahead and enjoy yogurt and soy yogurt, but remember to count those carbohydrates. More on dairy and diabetes next week.
I eat a carton of Dannon Light and Fit every day. It has a low carb count. It’s easy to bring to work as a mid morning snack. Glad to hear it could actually be good for my diabetes.
Posted by Linda | Jan 24, 2007 at 3:36 pmI also eat Dannon Light & Fit yogurt. It’s a 6 oz. container and has 60 calories and most flavors either 10 or 11 carbs. I’m also glad to hear it could be good for my diabetes.
Posted by Diane | Jan 24, 2007 at 6:50 pmI’ve had Diabetes for 8 years. I am on insulin as well as two different oral medications. Sometimes even all these drugs did not keep my blood sugars within normail range.
Three weeks ago I decided to start driking 1-2 glasses of sugarless vanilla soy milk. It only had 1 net carb per glass and sounded good to drink. Within days my sugar was in the 60’s, (my sugar had reached almost 500 on different occasions before the soy). I had to lower my insulin twice so far and it is still in the 60’s and 70’s.
Unfortunately, I recently got into quite a bit of candy, but also kept drinking the soy milk. I thought my sugar would be off the scale, but it has remained in the 60’s and 70’s. I think there may be a direct correllation between any kind of soy milk product and blood glucose levels. My sugar has never been this constantly low since I was diagnosed with Diabetes. I’m just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? Have I stumbled on to a miracle?
Posted by nancy | Mar 01, 2007 at 3:18 amI am a diabetic on insulin.
Posted by Mary Mead | Jun 12, 2009 at 4:57 pmI refuse to take the pills, because they cause major kidney and liver damage. I told the DR to put me on insulin. You can control your diabetis better. I have been looking for a yogurt that is low in carbs and sugar also.
Hi Mary,
There really isn’t a low-carb yogurt. Yogurt naturally contains carbohydrate because it’s made from milk. Plain yogurt contains about 12 grams of carbohydrate per 1-cup serving; even the “light” yogurts, sweetened with artificial sweeteners, have about 16 grams of carbohydrate per 6-ounce serving. But these may be better choices than many of the fruited yogurts, which contain closer to 30 grams of carbohydrate per serving.
Posted by acampbell | Jun 15, 2009 at 3:30 pmIt is soy yogurt that works. Dairy causes diabetes, I read the orginal article. It compared dairy and soy. Plain soy yogurt beat blueberry dairy yogurt. Dairy yogurt without blueberries did nothing to help. But the top was SOY BLUEBERRY yogurt, which did amazing things for the body.
Years ago they connected dairy yogurt with ovarian cancer. Dairy is animal protein and animal protein leeches calcium from your bones. The human body does not like acidic foods such as meat and dairy therefore to nutralize the acidic affect your body takes calcium from your bones.
Posted by Celinda | Aug 06, 2009 at 8:55 ami am a diabetic but i dont understand what is type 1 or type 2 diabetic,i eat yoghurt practically everyday for lunch i dont know if this effects diabetic control,should i take yoghurt and i want to know if this has any effect with persons in high blood pressure,please kindly inform me as i am very much concerned about my health, i am 43 years old and i recently diagnosed with high sugar
Posted by francis | Aug 08, 2009 at 6:51 amHi francis,
Having diabetes can be confusing, especially if you’re not sure what type of diabetes you have. A big part of managing your diabetes is finding out as much as you can — this includes talking with your physician, meeting with a diabetes educator and dietitian, and doing some reading on your own, too. Please talk with your physician and ask him/her questions about what type of diabetes you have and how to best manage it. Hopefully you’re checking your blood glucose with a meter, but if not, ask your doctor for a referral to a diabetes educator to learn how. Also, meet with a dietitian who specializes in diabetes so that you can get a meal plan that will work with your goals and lifestyle. Again, your doctor should be able to give you a referral, and you probably have dietitians and diabetes educators at your local hospital or diabetes center with whom you can meet. In the meantime, yes, you can eat yogurt for lunch. But the best way to find out how foods affect your blood glucose is to check with a meter; otherwise, you won’t really know. Here’s a link to a diabetes article on this Web site that you might want to read, too, to learn more about diabetes:
Posted by acampbell | Aug 11, 2009 at 7:53 amhttp://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/Articles/Diabetes-Basics/what_is_diabetes/
Hi Celinda,
While there is some evidence pointing to cow’s milk increasing the risk of Type 1 diabetes in children, nothing is conclusive at this point. There are many other factors that also have to be considered in terms of what causes diabetes, such as genetics, the environment, viruses, etc. On the flip side, a study done out of Tufts University showed that people who consumed the most servings of dairy foods (including milk) each day actually had a 15% lower chance of getting Type 2 diabetes than the people who consumed very little dairy. The researchers believe that the calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium in dairy may somehow be protective. Finally, there are no conclusive studies showing that consuming dairy foods increase the risk for ovarian cancer.
Posted by acampbell | Aug 11, 2009 at 8:05 amHi Nancy i read your posted coments and i also am drinking soy milk and my sugar has went way down,send me a message at my email if u are still there and want to talk about this subject.
Posted by Jim | Sep 27, 2009 at 12:18 pmthanks Jim