Center for Sight, Fall River, Massachusetts
Diabetes Risk Reduced by Eating Fruits
It is well known that by making certain dietary changes such as limiting starch, carbohydrate and sugar intake as well as by reducing weight and total calorie consumption it is often possible to avoid the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes New research shares information about how eating certain types of whole fruit may also help reduce your risk of Type 2 Diabetes.
Research on Eating Fruit & Diabetes
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health noted that eating certain whole fruits may reduce the risk for Type 2 Diabetes, even though fruit juice consumption may actually increase the risk for diabetes. Investigators combined data from 3 studies: the Nurses' Health Study of more than 66,000 patients, the Nurses' Health Study II of more than 85,000 patients and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study with over 36,000 patients. The participants in all 3 studies completed questionnaires assessing health and lifestyle factors, including diet, every 2 years. The researchers excluded participants with a baseline diagnosis of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer, as well as those who had missing data for fruit or fruit juice consumption or an extremely high or low caloric intake, and those who had an unclear date of diabetes diagnosis.
The analysis was adjusted for personal, lifestyle, and dietary risk factors for diabetes. The researchers concluded that every 3 servings of fruit per week were associated with a lower risk for Type 2 Diabetes. When the researchers looked at individual types of fruit in a multivariate analysis, adjusted for the same factors, they found that 3 servings per week of some fruits were more closely associated with reduced risk of diabetes especially blueberries, grapes and apples.
If you or someone you know has questions about diabetes, diabetic eye disease or needs to schedule a diabetic eye exam, please call Center for Sight at 508-730-2020, visit Center for Sight, Google+ or www.facebook.com/centerforsightfallriver. Center for Sight is conveniently located at 1565 North Main Street, Suite 406, Fall River, Massachusetts 02720 for patients from Massachusetts or Rhode Island.