New evidence supports low-glycemic diet for type 2 diabetics

Come Hither

This diet seriously needs an image makeover.

First, how about a name that will generate some buzz? Something like: Island Paradise Lottery Win Diet.

And rather than calling it a “low carb diet,” how about we start calling it a “power carb diet”?

I’m afraid it will take this type of marketing blitz to turn the low-glycemic diet into a household name. But for conscientious type 2 diabetics (and anyone who wants to avoid type 2 diabetes), all you need to know is that the LG diet can help you stay healthy every day of your life.

Moderately excellent

University of Toronto researchers recently mounted a study in which 210 type 2 diabetics were assigned to follow one of two diets for six months.

Diet One was a “high-cereal fiber” diet that included whole-grain breads, brown rice, potatoes, and breakfast cereal. Diet Two was a low-glycemic diet that included foods that are known to prompt a slow increase in blood sugar levels, such as beans, berries, oatmeal, and breads such as rye and pumpernickel.

In the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Toronto team reported two key results for subjects who followed the LG diet: 1) They increased their “good” HDL cholesterol (HDL actually dropped in the high-cereal diet group), and 2) Their HbA1c levels were moderately lowered compared to the high-cereal group.

As I’ve noted in previous e-Alerts, HbA1c is an excellent measure of blood sugar management because it assesses blood sugar levels over the long term, unaffected by daily fluctuations. So while a “moderate” lowering of HbA1c may not sound impressive, it’s actually exactly the reaction a type 2 diabetic would hope for.

Keep that up and you’ll most likely enjoy continued control of your diabetes AND heart disease risk factors. In a 2004 review of 13 HbA1c studies, researchers concluded that with every one-point increase in HbA1c, heart disease and stroke risk rises by nearly 20 percent. But when HbA1c drops, these risk factors drop as well.

Easy access

Do you enjoy rice, pasta, and bread? You can actually eat certain varieties of all those foods and still maintain a low-glycemic diet. All you need is a good guide to show you exactly which foods rate high on the glycemic index, and which foods rate low.

Two excellent online resources I’ve found are carbs-information.com and glycemicindex.com. Both of these sites provide detailed listings of hundreds of foods and their GI rankings. A low GI is 55 and below, medium is 56 to 69, and anything above 69 is high and is best avoided. For instance, the GI for broccoli is zero, but the GI for a comparable serving of sweetcorn is 54. Spinach and cauliflower both rate a zero, but a baked potato is 85.

Diabetics aren’t the only ones who will benefit by following LG guidelines. In the e-Alert “Eye to the Future” (11/6/07), I told you about a study that examined the diets of nearly 4,000 subjects, aged 55-80, who participated in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study. When subjects with high GI diets were compared to subjects with low GI diets, results showed that high GI was associated with a significantly higher risk of developing advanced age-related macular degeneration.

Always talk to your doctor before making any major dietary changes.

Source:
“Effect of a Low-Glycemic Index or a High-Cereal Fiber Diet on Type 2 Diabetes” Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 300, No. 23, 12/17/08, jama.ama- assn.org