How some types of foods preserve our health



by LORENZO CIOTTI

How some types of foods preserve our health
How some types of foods preserve our health

Taking lifestyle and other risk factors for diabetes into account, the researchers calculated that a 66-gram increase in total fruit and vegetable intake was associated with a 25% lower risk of developing the type 2 diabetes.

Even a little extra effort is enough to keep this dangerous disease away. To be precise, only 66 grams more of these two foods are needed to have a 25% risk reduction. Even if it is only observational studies and therefore it is not possible to establish a cause-effect relationship, the data are further confirmation of how the consumption of fruit, vegetables and cereals can have an impact on the reduction of the risk of onset of type 2 diabetes as well as many other diseases.

The consumption of two or more portions per week of oatmeal was associated with a 21% lower risk, that of bran with a 15% lower risk while for wheat germ and brown rice the risk was lowered by 12 %. The results are based on 9,754 adults who developed new-onset type 2 diabetes and a comparison group of 13,662 adults who did not have diabetes during the follow-up among the 340,000 participants in the European Prospective Investigation in Cancer and Nutrition (Epic) - InterAct study in eight countries Europeans.

The research looked at some specific foods and found that consuming one or more servings of whole grain breakfast or dark bread a day was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes (19% and 21% respectively) than to the consumption of less than one portion per month.

The researchers looked at the association between whole food intake and type 2 diabetes on a sample of 158,259 women and 36,525 men without diabetes, heart disease and cancer. It was seen that those who consumed larger quantities of whole grains had a 29% lower rate of type 2 diabetes than those who consumed less.

Eating some wholegrain food such as dark bread or bran every day, reduces the risk of diabetes 2 by 29%. This is the good news that comes from two studies published in the British Medical Journal that investigate the effects that an increase in fruit, vegetables and whole grains can have on health.