Million dollar study to investigate health benefits of dairy foods

Dairy foods are often held up as dietary bad guys, but are they a key ingredient in the fight against obesity, heart disease and diabetes?

Deakin University health researchers have received $1.13million from the Dairy Health Nutrition Consortium* to determine exactly what impact dairy foods have on weight control, heart disease and diabetes.

"The Australian population is simultaneously aging and gaining weight, leading to epidemics of diabetes and heart disease. Dietary strategies are urgently needed that help with weight control and combat the cellular stress of ageing," said one of the lead researchers, Deakin's Associate Professor David Cameron-Smith.

Major discoveries over the past five years have shown that inflammation is the hidden cause driving the onset of heart disease and diabetes.

"Inflammation is the body's response to stress. Excessive weight causes inflammation, as do many unhealthy, high-fat foods," Associate Professor Cameron-Smith explained.

"Dairy foods provide a rich source of calcium and protein that may beneficially assist with metabolic and weight control in relation to inflammatory response, and protein and lipid metabolism. However the impact that dairy foods have on the body's inflammatory response has not previously been investigated.

"The funding we have received from the Dairy Health Nutrition Consortium will enable us to undertake the first systematic analysis of the actions of full-fat and low-fat dairy on the inflammatory processes of the human body."

The Deakin research team will be led by Associate Professor Cameron-Smith and Professor Andrew Sinclair, and includes Professor Caryl Nowson, an international expert on dietary strategies and blood pressure control, and Dr Ken Walder, from the Geelong-based Metabolic Research Unit a highly skilled team of molecular biologists who will probe the genes that respond to dairy foods.

* Dairy Health & Nutrition Consortium is an initiative of the Gardiner Foundation, and Dairy Innovation Australia Limited, in collaboration with Bega/Tatura Milk Industries, Fonterra Dairy Co-operative, Murray Goulburn Co-operative, Parmalat Australia, Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory, and Dairy Australia.