Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) prevention has generally focused
on the identification of risk factors in adulthood. Dairy product
consumption...
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Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) prevention has generally focused
on the identification of risk factors in adulthood. Dairy product
consumption in adults has been associated with a lower risk of
T2D.
Objective: The objective was to evaluate the relation between
dairy product consumption during adolescence and risk of T2D in
adulthood.
Design: We examined the incidence of T2D in relation to high
school dairy product consumption within the Nurses’ Health Study
II cohort. A total of 37,038 women who completed a food-frequency
questionnaire about their diet during high school were followed from
the time of return of the questionnaire in 1998–2005. Cox proportional
hazards regression was used to estimate RRs and 95% CIs.
Results: Compared with women in the lowest quintile of high
school dairy product intake, those in the highest quintile (2 servings/
d) had a 38% lower risk of T2D (RR: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.47, 0.83;
P-trend = 0.0006), after adjustment for high school risk factors.
After adjustment for adult risk factors, the association persisted
(RR: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.54, 0.97; P-trend = 0.02) but was attenuated
after adjustment for adult dairy product consumption. In a multivariate
joint comparison of dairy product consumption by adults and high
school adolescents, compared with women with consistently low intakes,
those with consistently high intakes had the lowest risk of
T2D (RR: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.39, 0.82).
Conclusions: Our data suggest that higher dairy product intake during
adolescence is associated with a lower risk of T2D. Some of the
benefit of dairy product intake during high school may be due to the
persistence of the consumption pattern during adulthood.
