Health experts warn that eating lots of milk can lead to high blood sugar levels, even if you’re not diabetic.
“If you’re in a diabetic population, you should avoid milk because you are at risk for getting diabetes,” says the U.K.-based charity Diabetes UK.
“Mixed milk drinks like milk, which are mixed with sugar and other ingredients, can also increase your risk of diabetes.
They can increase your insulin levels and cause the body to store sugar in the liver, which can lead the body’s production of insulin.”
Milk can increase the risk of certain types of diabetes, such as type 1, or type 2, or insulin resistance.
“This is particularly true for young people who are at high risk of type 2 diabetes,” Dr. Caroline Firth, an expert in nutrition at the University of London, tells Medical News Day.
“It’s a risk factor for developing type 2 and type 1 diabetes.
It can also raise the risk for developing insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.”
The risk of drinking milk and drinking it in the same bowl can also rise as a result of mixing milk into other drinks.
“A lot of mixed drinks contain some sugar, which is a precursor to insulin.
So when you drink milk with sugar, it has the potential to raise your insulin,” Firth says.
“And that may increase your chances of developing type 1 and type 2 as well.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that children under 5 and adults over 65 not drink milk, but it doesn’t specifically mention milk-based products.
“The only way to know if you are a type 2 diabetic is to get a blood test, and there is no FDA-approved test for this,” Firsay says.
The risk for people with diabetes is higher if they consume a lot of milk.
It’s also possible that certain types or combinations of dairy products increase the body and immune system’s susceptibility to infections.
And milk-containing products can also contain more fat, leading to an increased risk of heart disease.
“You’re going to get more of these infections,” says Firth.
“We don’t really know why, but we think that there is some association.”
The good news is that there are many ways to avoid dairy, including eating a variety of plant-based foods, eating fewer red meats, eating more fruits and vegetables and getting enough iron and calcium.
“There is a clear association between dairy consumption and lower blood sugar and increased risk for type 2 Diabetes,” says Dr. John Pemberton, a diabetes specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
“That’s why it’s so important that people are getting adequate calcium and vitamin D. There is also good evidence that consuming milk, especially when it’s a mixed beverage, may lower the risk [of diabetes],” Pemberson says.
But if you want to avoid a high risk, talk to your doctor.
