Diabetes is a growing health menace. Most diabetics have type 2 diabetes with obesity and insulin resistance. A new study has reiterated that plant based low carbs diet is best for these people.
Diabetes and the USA
The diabetes disease is getting commoner in the USA. Most of these patients with high blood sugar are of type 2 diabetes. This is common in people above the age of 45 years but younger age group is getting increasingly inflicted with it.
Type 2 diabetes (Source: Endocrine Web)Type 2 diabetes occurs due to excess weight, inactivity and insulin resistance. In this insulin is produced but the body cells fail to respond to it adequately. Hence blood glucose rises. CDC data reveals that 37 million Americans suffer from diabetes. And 95% are of type 2. This condition can be controlled though there is no cure for it yet. Medicines, exercise, healthy diet and lifestyle can go a long way in controlling it.
A new study re-emphasizes that low carbs diet can effectively and safely control the high blood sugar. But what matters is the type of low carb food that one eats.
Plant based low carbs diet
CDC recommends diabetics to consume less of processed foods, trans fats, and sugars. They advise against alcohol and sugary drinks. Moreover, they recommend diabetics to consume more of whole grains, non-starchy vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, water, and beverages with no artificial sweeteners.
Plant based low carbs diet (Source: Wicked Spatula)A prospective cohort study recruited 203541 adults of both genders. These were free of diabetes, cancer of heart diseases at start of the study. They filled a validated food frequency questionnaire at the start and every 4 years. The quality of their diets was analyzed in depth. A low carb diet was considered when 40% of the calories cane from carbs in the diet.
The researchers found that eating low carb diet did not reduce risk of diabetes. But when plant based protein was taken, risk of diabetes came down by 6% in 3 decades. Additionally, when refined carbs were eliminated, risk was reduced by 15%.
Read here: Can raw food diet reverse diabetes mellitus?
More on the findings
Moreover, the study showed that low carb diet with animal proteins increased diabetes risk by 35%. And low carb diet with also less of whole grains had heightened risk by 39%.
Thus, plant based low carbs diet controls diabetes better and reduces the risk of it. Dr. Eamon Laird is a visiting research fellow at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland but was not in the research team. He said to Medical News Today:
“It’s a very complex topic. We know already that consuming whole grains and plant-based foods is good for diabetes risk reduction.”
Plant based low carbs diet (Source: Women’s health)This study is not peer-reviewed. But it is a long term large scale study. Despite the large numbers, it has limitations. The amount of carbs and proteins each person took is not clear. The type of animal protein sources the recruits had is not certain. Moreover, nothing is detailed about the individual’s lifestyle factors.
The lead study author Yeli Wang revealed that their recruits were primarily whites. He noted:
“We wonder whether our results could be generalized to other ethnic groups. We need to look at that,”
Eamon added:
“Some studies have associated more plant-based diets with healthier lifestyles (such as less smoking, drinking, more physical activity, more supplement use) which impacts [the] risk of diabetes. So we do need to see more information first before jumping to any conclusions.”