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Nuts
Reduce Diabetes Risk
Posted
December 2, 2002
Researchers
from the Harvard School of Public Health have found that women
who consume nuts or peanut butter five times per week or more,
significantly lowered their risk for type 2 diabetes compared
to those who never or rarely ate nuts or peanut butter. The
reduced risk was independent of known risk factors for type
2 diabetes, such as body mass index (BMI), family history
of diabetes, physical activity, smoking, alcohol use, and
dietary factors. The findings appear in the November 27, 2002
issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
More
than 83,000 women with no history of diabetes, cardiovascular
disease, or cancer, from the Brigham and Womens Hospital based,
Nurses Health Study, were tracked for 16 years. The study
participants were sent food frequency questionnaires on average
of every four years between 1980 and 1996 that included information
on their nut and peanut butter consumption. The participants
also provided information via follow-up questionnaires about
family history of diabetes, cigarette smoking, body weight
and physical activity. Type 2 diabetes usually occurs after
age 40. People with this type of diabetes do not produce adequate
amounts of insulin for the needs of the body and/or cannot
use insulin effectively.
Women
in the study who reported eating nuts at least five times
per week reduced their risk of type 2 diabetes by almost 30
percent compared to those who rarely or never ate nuts. The
researchers also found that women in the study who frequently
ate peanut butter reduced their risk for type 2 diabetes almost
20 percent compared to women in the study who rarely ate peanut
butter.
"We
were not really surprised by our findings" said Rui Jiang,
co-author of the study, and a researcher from the Departments
of Nutrition and Epidemiology. "Nuts contain lots of
fat, but most fats in nuts are mono- and polyunsaturated fats,
which are good for insulin sensitivity and serum cholesterol.
Nuts are also rich in antioxidant vitamins, minerals, plant
protein and dietary fiber." "To avoid increase in
caloric intake, people should not simply add nuts on the top
of the diet. Instead, people should substitute nuts for less
healthy foods such as refined carbohydrates like white bread
and red meats."
The
study was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes
for Health.
©
Health News Digest.com 2002 All Rights Reserved.
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