A healthier diet helps control high risk Type 2 diabetes better than what drugs can achieve alone.

 

Kirsten Coppell of the University of Otago (Dunedin, New Zealand), who led the study, says the research indicates that providing the right dietary advice could help diabetes patients stave off the disease's devastating complications.

 

Healthier diets include: whole grains for carbohydrates; brown rice; lots of protein-rich foods; meat; and monounsaturated fats. "The patients in our study were already under intensive drug treatment to optimize their glycemic control which remained unsatisfactory. We found that by following carefully tailored dietary advice they could significantly improve this control," Coppell said. "Given the tendency for glycaemic control in high-risk diabetes patients to deteriorate -- no matter how intensive their drug treatment -- the findings are highly relevant for improving diabetes management."