Vegetable Fiber Protects BestAgainst Diabetes

Vegetables offer more protection against diabetes than grains or fruit, Australian research shows.

A study, which looked at fiber intake and tracked 2000 people over 49 years of age for 10 years, found that vegetable fiber had the strongest link to reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.

Adults who ate 5 g of vegetable fiber per day had a 24 percent reduction in the risk of diabetes while people over age 70 experienced even greater benefits, with a 31 percent risk reduction.The same intakes of grain or fruit fiber were not nearly as beneficial.

Study reference: Barclay AW, Flood VM, Rochtchina E, et al. Glycemic index, dietary fiber, and risk of type 2 diabetes in a cohort of older Australians. Diabetes Care, 2007; 30:2811-2813.

Melissa’s comments:

Many people have bought into the idea that grains are so necessary in the diet that they get concerned about how they are going to get enough fiber if they reduce or eliminate grains. Vegetables provide plenty of fiber if people eat enough of them. Unfortunately, judging from the food diaries of many new clients of mine, many people eat very few vegetables – sometimes no vegetables and many times just one or two servings a day.

This study confirms what I see in my clients: eating a lot of vegetables is the best strategy for protecting about type 2 diabetes. Just reducing or avoiding grains in your diet isn’t enough. The second part of the answer is to put non-starchy vegetables in your diet in place of the grains that were eaten before. A vegetable-rich diet protects not just against diabetes but many other conditions.

These findings along with many others keep reinforcing the same idea: The type and quality of carbohydrate consumed plays an extremely important role in type 2 diabetes. Going against the grain and vegging out is the way to put these ideas into practice to help your health.

Do you understand the basic idea but have trouble knowing how to fix vegetables simply and deliciously or how to develop meals that incorporate a lot of vegetables? Then join the Going Against the Grain Group, which has not just results of studies as I have in Nutrition News and Notes but more importantly, tips, recipes, meal suggestions and names of products to help you put into practice the latest research into real life.

© Copyright 2008 Melissa Diane Smith

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