foodconsumer.org: Diabetes News: Mediterranean diet better than low fat diet for diabetics

Diabetes News: Mediterranean diet better than low fat diet for diabetics
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admin on 01/10/2010 13:48:00
 
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/
Photo from barackobama.com