Eating whole grains can lower your risk of type-2 diabetes: Study

Carbs are not a bad thing, as long as you choose the right sources. And according to this study carbs from whole grains can reduce your risk of diabetes.

Diabetes can lead to a host of other health problems. Image courtesy: Shutterstock

Team Health Shots Updated: 13 Oct 2023, 16:28 pm IST

Type-2 diabetes is becoming a real threat. You’ll be shocked to know that according to a survey conducted by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF), and the Harvard School of Public Health with other international organizations—one in every two Indian is living with diabetes. The worst part? Most of them don’t even know they have diabetes.

Many people believe that eliminating carbohydrates or fats completely from their diet will help them reduce their risk of diabetes. But they often ignore the fact that a balanced diet is the only solution to stay hale and hearty. Our body needs carbohydrates and fat to function, but the source of these nutrients also matters.

And a recent study proves it too. A research paper is linking a higher intake of high-quality carbohydrates, especially whole grains, to a lower risk for type-2 diabetes.

Learn to distinguish between good and bad carbs to lower the risk of type-2 diabetes
According to the study the major problem lies in people who don’t know what to eat when it comes to carbohydrates.

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During the research the team analysed the data from three studies that followed health professionals in the US over time.

These included 69,949 women from the Nurses’ Health Study 90,239 women from the Nurses’ Health Study 2, and 40,539 men from the Hea,lth Professionals Follow-up Study.

Collectively, the studies represented over four million years of follow-up, during which almost 12,000 cases of type-2 diabetes cases were documented.

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And the researchers found out that replacing low-quality carbs with high-quality ones has major health benefits. They observed a lower risk of type-2 diabetes when high-quality carbohydrates replaced calories from saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, animal protein, and vegetable protein.

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Lead author Kim Braun from Harvard University in the US, said:

These results highlight the importance of distinguishing between carbohydrates from high- and low- quality sources when examining diabetes risk.

“Conducting similar studies in people with various socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicities and age will provide insight into how applicable these findings are for other groups,” Braun added.

The study was scheduled to be presented at ‘NUTRITION 2020 LIVE ONLINE’, a virtual conference hosted by the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) this week.

So, the bottom line is, eat everything but in proper potions, and don’t forget to add some whole grains in your diet to reduce your risk of type-2 diabetes.

(With inputs from IANS)