Diabetics Can Eat More Nuts, to Their Advantage
Thu, August 4, 2011 at 02:00AM Some type 2 diabetics want to replace part of the carbohydrate in their diet with fat, in an attempt to improve glycemic control. So Canadian researchers have investigated mixed nut consumption as a source of vegetable fat (chiefly monounsaturated fatty acids or MUFAs), with interesting results. They are published online in the journal Diabetes Care.
One hundred and seventeen type 2 diabetic subjects were randomly assigned to take one of 3 daily supplements for 3 months: 75 g (2 ounces) of mixed nuts, muffins, or half portions of both. The quantities were chosen to provide 475 calories per 2,000 calorie diet. The nuts were unsalted and mostly raw almonds, pistachios, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, peanuts, cashews, and macadamias; the muffins had a similar protein content to the nuts, but no MUFAs.
The average HbA1c (glycosylated hemoglobin) levels were decreased by 0.21% after 3 months, but there were no significant changes in the half-and-half or the muffins-only groups. Compared with muffins, the full-nut supplement was associated with a significant reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol – the “bad” cholesterol. The half-and-half supplement LDL levels were intermediate, while the LDL levels with muffins were unchanged.
The study authors concluded that nut consumption not only improved glycemic control but also lipid levels. The magnitude of the HbA1c reduction in this study was about 2/3 of what the FDA recognizes as being clinically meaningful for therapeutic agents, which isn’t bad at all. And nuts don’t cause weight gain!
Reader Comments (1)
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(Edited RG).