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10/08/2026 12:38 pm
I have been hearing alot lately that milk has a high insulin response, even though its GI rating is relatively low.
For a long time now I have been eating cottage cheese with fats before sleep, with the idea that a slow digesting protein along with extra fat would be the slowest possible digesting meal available.
HOWEVER.... if the cottage cheese is actually spiking insulin, this would be a very bad meal for right before bed, especially with the fats.
Does cottage cheese spike insulin the same way milk does? Why or why not?
10/08/2026 12:57 pm
I'm unsure with the cottage cheese situation, but I would assume that it would be very similar to the milk derived products in this study below.
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/80/5/1246 <-- full text here
Background: Milk products deviate from other carbohydrate-containing foods in that they produce high insulin responses, despite their low GI. The insulinotropic mechanism of milk has not been elucidated.
Objective: The objective was to evaluate the effect of common dietary sources of animal or vegetable proteins on concentrations of postprandial blood glucose, insulin, amino acids, and incretin hormones [glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide 1] in healthy subjects.
Design: Twelve healthy volunteers were served test meals consisting of reconstituted milk, cheese, whey, cod, and wheat gluten with equivalent amounts of lactose. An equicarbohydrate load of white-wheat bread was used as a reference meal.
Results: A correlation was found between postprandial insulin responses and early increments in plasma amino acids; the strongest correlations were seen for leucine, valine, lysine, and isoleucine. A correlation was also obtained between responses of insulin and GIP concentrations. Reconstituted milk powder and whey had substantially lower postprandial glucose areas under the curve (AUCs) than did the bread reference (–62% and –57%, respectively). Whey meal was accompanied by higher AUCs for insulin (90%) and GIP (54%).
Conclusions: It can be concluded that food proteins differ in their capacity to stimulate insulin release, possibly by differently affecting the early release of incretin hormones and insulinotropic amino acids. Milk proteins have insulinotropic properties; the whey fraction contains the predominating insulin secretagogue.
10/08/2026 1:21 pm
ive seen this study b4...
in table 3, when looking at the comparisons btwn various protein sources, the insulin index for milk and whey is 55 +/- 0.08 and 72 +/- 0.2 respectively, while for cheese its only 27 +/-0.05
john berardi has also commented that cottage cheese does not behave like milk in the respect that its not as allergenic nor does it carry the high insulin index rating that milk does
so to answer ur question landmonster... no, milk and cottage cheese do not exibit the same effects on insulin... and cottage cheese and fat is still a great mix to have b4 bedtime
10/08/2026 1:44 pm
ive seen this study b4...
in table 3, when looking at the comparisons btwn various protein sources, the insulin index for milk and whey is 55 +/- 0.08 and 72 +/- 0.2 respectively, while for cheese its only 27 +/-0.05
john berardi has also commented that cottage cheese does not behave like milk in the respect that its not as allergenic nor does it carry the high insulin index rating that milk does
so to answer ur question landmonster... no, milk and cottage cheese do not exibit the same effects on insulin... and cottage cheese and fat is still a great mix to have b4 bedtime
Thanks LM, I didn't really get a chance to read the whole article. Case closed.