Diabetes News: Mediterranean diet better than low fat diet for diabetics

By David Liu

Sunday Jan 10, 2010 (foodconsumer.org) -- Mediterranean diet is no diabetes cure, but should be considered a diabetes treatment or diabetic diet, a new trial suggests.  The diet has been found more effective in helping control serum blood sugar in overweight patients with type 2 diabetes than a low-fat diet.

Low fat diet with less than 30 percent calories from fat is recommended by the American Heart Association, according to naturalnews.com. The diet contains less than 10 percent calories from saturated fat and is low in sweets and high-fat snacks; and high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Mediterranean diet consists of large quantities of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and moderate amounts of olive oil, nuts, poultry and fish with no more than half the daily intake of calories from carbohydrates.

In the trial published in the Sept. 1, 2009 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, 215 overweight patients with newly diagnosed diabetes who had not yet received antihyperglycemic drug therapy were assigned either diet for four years.

The researchers found 44 percent of diabetes patients in the Mediterranean diet group needed diabetic drugs to help lower blood sugar levels compared to 70 percent in the low-fat diet group.

Additionally, diabetes patients in the Mediterranean diet group lost more weight and experienced greater improvement in some glycemic control and coronary risk measures than those in the low fat diet group.

People with types 2 diabetes can produce insulin, the hormone that is needed for sugar metabolism, but can’t use it efficiently.

Because of this, diabetes patients tend to have higher blood sugar levels, leading to complications such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease, nerve problems, gum infections and amputation.

Typical type 2 diabetes symptoms include increased thirst, increased hunger, fatigue, increased urination, particularly at night, weight loss, blurred vision and sores that do not heal.

There is no cure for type 2 diabetes.  Diatetic drugs are available to help manage serum blood sugar levels only.

The trial was conducted by Katherine Esposito, MD and colleagues from the Second University of Naples and ASLNA5, Vico Equense/Sorrento, Naples, Italy, and Warwick Medical School, Coventry, United Kingdom.

Sources

http://www.annals.org/content/151/5/306.abstract

http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/DM/pubs/riskfortype2/

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