AbstractObjectiveSeveral studies have suggested that dairy food may reduce the risk of obesity and metabolic abnormalities but few have been able to conclusively demonstrate that it reduces the risk of diabetes. The aim of the present analysis was to investigate if dairy food intake independently reduces the risk of diabetes.DesignThe Australian Diabetes Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab) is a national, population-based, prospective survey conducted over 5 years. Baseline measurements included a 121-item FFQ, anthropometrics and an oral glucose tolerance test.SettingForty-two randomly selected clusters across Australia.SubjectsAdults aged ≥25 years who participated in the baseline survey and returned to follow-up 5 years later.ResultsA total of 5582 participants with complete data were eligible for analysis, 209 of whom had incident diabetes. Compared with men in the first tertile of dairy food intake, men in the third tertile had a significantly reduced risk of developing diabetes after adjustment for age, sex, total energy intake, family history of diabetes, education, physical activity, smoking status, fasting serum TAG and HDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, waist circumference and hip circumference (OR = 0·53, 95 % CI 0·29, 0·96;P= 0·033). A similar non-significant association was observed in women.ConclusionsDietary patterns that incorporate high intakes of dairy food may reduce the risk of diabetes among men. Further investigation into the relationship between dairy food intake and diabetes needs to be undertaken to fully understand the potential mechanism of this observation.