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Vegetables Protect Against Diabetes

Posted: Friday, September 07, 2007

VEGETABLES offer more protection against diabetes than fruit or cereal, new research shows.

A study of more than 2000 people tracked over 10 years found vegetable fiber had the strongest links to reduced risk of type two diabetes.

Adults eating 5g a day of vegetable fiber over the decade had a 24 per cent reduction in the disease, according to research by the University of Sydney.

For people over 70, the benefits were even greater, with a 31 per cent reduction.

The same intake of fruit or cereal fibers only marginally reduced the risk, showing they were not nearly as beneficial. The findings, proved that the type and quality of carbohydrate consumed played an important role in type two diabetes.

Eating carbs that were high in natural fiber and ranked low on the glycemic index (GI) - foods that produced only small fluctuations in blood glucose and insulin levels - might effectively prevent the lifestyle disease, the researchers concluded.

The study leader, dietician Alan Barclay, said vegetables, and legumes in particular, were probably getting the best result because they were an ideal source of intact or "natural" fibers.

"Legumes like beans, lentils, chickpeas are eaten whole with their dietary fibers intact, which means they actually encapsulate the carbohydrate in the food," said Mr Barclay, a PhD student.

"They therefore slow down the rate of digestion and absorption and have good flow-on glycemic effects on blood glucose."

Cereal fiber was not so effective because it was usually added to products, rather than eaten in a natural form. And while fresh fruit fibers were intact, people probably just did not eat enough to benefit, Mr Barclay said.

Source: Diabetes In Control: Diabetes Care, Sept. 2007