Diabetes is a disease in which glucose levels, i.e., blood sugar, are very high. Glucose comes from the foods you consume, but according to a new study, some products can help fight this disease. Specifically, eating fruit.
The research, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism of the American Endocrine Society, reveals that people who eat two servings of fruit a day are 36% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, compared to those who consume less than half a serving daily. Therefore, adopting a healthy diet and lifestyle can help reduce people’s risk of diabetes.
The study authors studied data from nearly 8,000 participants in the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute’s Australian Diabetes, Obesity, and Lifestyle Study. This analysis provided information about their fruit and fruit juice consumption patterns through a food frequency questionnaire.
For type 2 diabetes
“We found that people who consumed about two servings of fruit a day had a 36% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the following five years than those who consumed less than half a serving of fruit a day,” said study author Dr. Nicola Bondonno of the Nutrition Research Institute at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia, in a statement reported by Europa Press.
But to get that result, users must eat whole pieces of fruit. The juices are not valid, because the same patterns were not observed, says the author. These results were only seen in participants who ate more whole fruits.
A healthy diet and lifestyle that includes the consumption of whole fruit is a great strategy to reduce the risk of diabetes, Bondonno argues.
Insulin markers
In addition, they found that there is an association between insulin markers and fruit intake. That is, people who consumed more fruit had to produce less insulin to reduce their blood glucose levels.
Finally, Bondonno recalls that elevated levels of circulating insulin can damage blood vessels and are not only related to diabetes. These also influence high blood pressure, obesity, and heart disease.