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Don’t Supersize: NIH Study Shows Eating French Fries Increases Risk for Diabetes

Posted: Thursday, September 28, 2006

84,555 registered female nurses were followed up for 20 years and they found that eating potatoes, especially french fries, is associated with an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. See McDonald’s answer to the results.

"Potatoes, a high glycemic form of complex carbohydrate, are hypothesized to increase insulin resistance and risk of type 2 diabetes," according to Thomas L. Halton, M.D., and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass.

Complex carbos are found in almost all plant-based foods. The body digest these foods more slowly, and some of these are bran, wheatgerm, corn, barely, oatmeal, buckwheat, pasta, macaroni, brown rice, potato, brown bread, cassava, yam, muesli, lentils, peas, beans. They are the "healthier complex carbohydrates." These are essential to an exercise regimen, making each workout more effective in losing body fat and weight. However, potatoes now seem to have gained this new notoriety with this recent published prospective study.

McDonalds quote: deflecting allegations that it's partly to blame for the rise in child obesity, said Wednesday “The major villain is a sedentary lifestyle.” "If you eat too much of anything it's a problem if you don't exercise," Chief Financial Officer Matthew Paull told an investors' conference. The lack of physical activity is a larger cause of obesity than caloric intake, he said. "There's no such thing as good food and bad food."

Simple carbohydrates are found in fruits (apples, all the berries, grapefruit, kiwi, lemon, pear, oranges, peach, melon, plum), and they are low in simple sugars and do not promote weight gain. Simple carbohydrates, which are high in simple sugars and cause weight gain rapidly, include: table sugars, cakes, ice cream, non-diet pop beverages, candies, chocolate, fudge, jam, honey, pudding, sweets and desserts, in general. They are easily and rapidly digested by our body.

The prospective study was initiated in 1976 and included 121,700 registered female nurses. Their diet was assed every four years from 1980 to 1998) and lifestyle and disease (which developed during this study) status were assed every two years. Thos who left more than 10 food items on the survey questionnaire, or had questionable answers regarding caloric intake, or who had cancer, cardiovascular illness, were excluded from the study. The remaining 84,555 were followed up for 20 years.

This investigation showed that "4496 participants were diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes. After adjustment for age and dietary and non-dietary factors, potato and french fry consumption were both positively associated with increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Even more pronounced in the association between potato and diabetic risk was found among the obese and sedentary women in the study.

The data from this significant study strongly suggest a potential benefit from limiting the consumption of potatoes, especially french fries, in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes. Other studies have likewise shown that eating a lot of the Simple Carbohydrates that are HIGH in simple sugars lead to weight gain and obesity and an increased risk of diabetes.

Carbohydrates with lower glycemic indices, such as high-fiber forms of (complex) carbohydrates like whole grains, bran, oat meal, wheat, muesli, lentils, peas, beans, broccoli, in combination with a low-fat diet of fish, green leafy vegetables and nuts, plus daily exercise reduce our risks, not only from diabetes, but from cancer and cardiovascular illness, like heart attack and stroke.

Source: Diabetes In Control: Reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in a prospective study supported by the National Institutes of Health published in its February 2006 issue.