In 2011, diabetes cost the US health system about $245 billion. About 26 million Americans have diabetes and 79 million have prediabetes. People with diabetes have two to four times the stroke risk of healthy people. It is also the leading cause of blindness in Americans aged 20–74 (1).
Blood sugar control is central to treatment aimed at preventing diabetes. Certain dietary approaches have been shown to help regulate blood sugar and even reduce diabetes risk.
Examples cited include 75 grams of nuts (2), 300 mg vitamin B1 (3), flavanol in a quantity of 400 with no clear unit (4), and dairy products (5) daily. The source writes the dairy quantity as “500mg grams,” with unclear units. A new review (6) suggests that increasing fibre may be a particularly effective way to regulate blood sugar.
Researchers analyzed 11 studies lasting 8–24 weeks and involving 605 patients, mean age 60, diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for 3–9 years. Dietary fibre had significant favourable effects on blood sugar when food fibre intake was 37.4–42.6 grams daily plus 3.5–15 grams of soluble fibre daily. Absolute glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C), a type 2 diabetes marker, decreased by 0.55% (p<0.001), while fasting glucose fell by 9.97 mg/dL (p<0.001) compared with following a proper diet.
According to the researchers, soluble fibre slows stomach digestion before food reaches the small intestine, helping regulate blood sugar (8). Soluble and insoluble fibres together also improve control by increasing insulin sensitivity (9,10). However, “the mechanisms associated with this positive effect have not yet been fully established.” They state that “increased dietary fibre intake improves glycemic control and may be considered a complementary tool in treating patients with type 2 diabetes.”
Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at [email protected]
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Reference:
1. “Diabetes Statistics” posted on the American Diabetes Association Website
2. Jenkins DJ. Nuts as a replacement for carbohydrates in the diabetic diet. Diabetes Care 2011 Aug;34(8):1706-11. doi: 10.2337/dc11-0338. Epub 2011 Jun 29.
3. Alaei Shahmiri F. High-dose thiamine supplementation improves glucose tolerance in hyperglycemic individuals: a randomized, double-blind cross-over trial. Eur J Nutr 2013 May 29. [Epub ahead of print]
4. Jacques PF. Higher Dietary Flavonol Intake Is Associated with Lower Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes. J Nutr 2013 Sep;143(9):1474-80. doi: 10.3945/jn.113.177212
5. Aune D. Dairy products and the risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review an dose-respons_e meta-analysis of cohort studies. Amer Jou Clin Nutr 2013; doi: 10.3945/ajcn.113.059030.
6. Silva FM. Fiber intake and glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Nutr Rev 2013 Dec;71(12):790-801. doi: 10.1111/nure.12076. Epub 2013 Nov 1
7. Jenkins DJ, Kendall CW, McKeown-Eyssen G, et al. Effect of a low-glycemic index or a high-cereal fiber diet on type 2 diabetes: a randomized trial. JAMA. 2008;300:2742–2753.
8. Papathanasopoulos A, Camilleri M. Dietary fiber supplements: effects in obesity and metabolic syndrome and relationship to gastrointestinal functions. Gastroenterology. 2010;138:65–72
9. Ylonen K, Saloranta C, Kronberg-Kippila C, et al. Associations of dietary fiber with glucose metabolism in nondiabetic relatives of subjects with type 2 diabetes: the Botnia Dietary Study. Diabetes Care. 2003;26:1979–1985.
10. McKeown NM, Meigs JB, Liu S, et al. Carbohydrate nutrition, insulin resistance, and the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in the Framingham Offspring Cohort. Diabetes Care. 2004;27:538–546