Until now, it has not been completely clear which types of food products increase or decrease the risk of type II diabetes (T2D). A long-term Swedish study reported this year at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna, Austria, suggests that consumption of high-fat dairy products is associated with a lower risk of diabetes. In their study, researchers at the Lund University Diabetes Center in Malmö analyzed data from 26,930 people (60 percent women), aged 45-74 years, based on dietary and cancer subgroups of the Malmö population. Over a 14-year follow-up period, 2,860 cases of T2D were identified. Participants were categorized according to food intake and placed into five groups for which the scientists calculated the risk of diabetes. They found that the incidence of T2D was 23% lower in the quintile with the highest intake (mean = 8 servings/day) compared to the quintile with the lowest intake of high-fat dairy products (mean = 1 serving/day). In particular, cream and high-fat fermented milk reduced the risk of diabetes, while no association was found between the consumption of low-fat dairy products and the risk of type II diabetes. High intake of meat and meat products increased risk regardless of fat content, but the increase was greater for lower-fat meats, with a 9% increased risk of type II diabetes for high-fat meats and a 24% increase for low-fat meats.