Fruits, fruits, fruits!!!
That’s what you hear when you are diagnosed with diabetes, right? Lead a better, healthier lifestyle! Do this and that! Exercise, check your food labels, cut out red meat, find a better protein source like tofu, watch your sugar intake, no carbohydrates! And…eat more vegetables and fruits!
Diabetics should consume more fruits and vegetables. However, are there any studies on the type of fruits they should eat or NOT to eat? Researchers in Singapore and the United States have found that foods, including fruits, have different glycemic index (GI) values. According to their study, some fruits are associated with a LOWER risk of type 2 diabetes in women, while other fruits increase the risk of diabetes in men!
As if the diet for diabetics is not complicated enough, diabetics have to discriminate between fruits as well. Since several studies have reported that the consumption of fruit is found to have inconsistent effects on the risk of type 2 diabetes, a large study has been done in the Asian population living in Singapore.
This study included 5207 participants recruited from the year 1993 to 2010. Theses researchers found that MEN who consume more than 3 servings of fruit a day have a 1,33 times higher risk of type 2 diabetes compared to men who ate less than one serving of fruit per week. In women, the results are the total opposite. It was found that women who ate more than 3 servings of fruit a day have a lower risk to women who ate 1 or less serving of fruit a week.
These results may be due to the TYPE of fruit that is more likely to be consumed. In men, there is a higher tendency of the consumption of higher glycemic index fruit such as bananas that increases the risk of type 2 diabetes by 1.51 times, while women were more likely to consume fruits such as apples and grapes that were shown to decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes.
People with diabetes should, therefore, try their best to determine which fruit has a lower glycemic index value as it may affect their blood glucose levels. More studies will be conducted as the study had several limitations such as improper measurement of the consumption of fruit in study participants and the effect of fruit juice for diabetics. Nevertheless, if this study is proven to be the truth, diabetics and those at risk of diabetes should choose to eat whole fruit that has a lower glycemic index value.
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Santoshi M. Impact of fruit consumption on diabetes risk. Medical News Bulletin. 2017. Accessed 3/9/2017.
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