
Fruit and diabetes: Do they mix?
Diabetics have long been told to minimize how much fruit they eat.
The idea is that the sugars in fruit, albeit natural sugars, can be hazardous to glucose levels. But a new study in Nutrition Journal suggests that reducing fruit intake doesn't offer much benefit to diabetics.
The study
Researchers from the Regional Hospital West Jutland in Denmark recruited 63 overweight men and women who all had type 2 diabetes. The participants were offered nutrition advice about limiting calories and were given medical supervision. One group of participants was told to eat at least two pieces of fruit per day, while the other group was told to limit fruit consumption.
The first group ate about 320 grams of fruit per day, while the second group ate about 135 grams daily.
Results
After a period of 12 weeks, participants in both groups showed improvement as far as weight loss and smaller waist circumferences. Interestingly, the group that ate more fruit had more improvements overall. Also, there was no "significant" difference in terms of blood sugar levels between both groups.
“Considering the many possible beneficial effects of fruit, we recommend that fruit intake should not be restricted in Type 2 diabetic subjects,” the researchers wrote.
Source: New York Times
Type 2 diabetes is different from type 1 diabetes in many ways. As its alternate name of adult-onset diabetes implies, it is usually only found in adults. However, the rate of children acquiring the disease is going up.
Type 2 diabetes is also known as non-insulin dependent diabetes due to the fact that, unlike type 1, insu
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