Does eating ice cream prevent diabetes?
In A Delicious Odyssey, N Atlantic A recent article explores the controversy surrounding a “controversial” finding repeated in various nutritional studies: that eating not only dairy products, but especially ice cream, is associated with a lower risk of diabetes.
As detailed”The most disgusting result of nutritional science” Not only individual studies, but decades of research analysis have failed to disseminate this clearly consumer-approved but scientifically implausible association. A paper published in 2016 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Summarizing data from nearly a dozen studies, consuming at least half a cup of dairy-sweetened beverages per week was associated with a 19 percent reduction in diabetes risk (even greater than the 14 percent reduction in risk seen with yogurt).
But, as noted in the story, the authors of that paper, like other experts, ascribed the findings to something called “reverse causation”—basically, assuming the relationship between ice cream and diabetes isn’t going in the direction you’d like. That is, for example, people who are healthy and at low risk of developing diabetes may feel more comfortable with a rocky road, but may already have a low risk of developing the disease.
Buried in about 3,300 words in all of this is the main ingredient, vanilla: “To be clear, none of the experts interviewed for this article are inclined to believe that the effects of ice cream are real. “
Mark Pereira, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, has long struggled with the ice cream-diabetes risk link. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a breakthrough like this in my career because it was completely unexpected,” he told AARP. ” of Atlantic added Pereira, who was interviewed for that story.
But while he had no explanation for the connection, Pereira was reluctant to recommend that people make soft serve a habit in their daily diet in the name of diabetes prevention.
“There may be a reason out there,” Pereira said, giving gelato apologists around the world at least a glimmer of hope. “But it’s a far cry from saying, ‘Oh, I recommend people with pre-diabetes add ice cream.’ I mean, there are many other ways you can change your diet and improve your exercise to lower your A1C. [a measure of blood sugar] and prevention of diabetes.
Taken another way: There is no proven reason yet to claim that ice cream protects you from diabetes. Therefore, at least for now, experts still suggest to taste ice cream in moderation – and not to prevent it.