By Jacqueline Howard, CNN Updated 11:06 AM ET,
Mon July 22, 2019
(CNN) Sticking to a
plant-based diet could help lower your risk of type 2 diabetes, a new paper
suggests.
That link between plant-based eating habits
and type 2 diabetes is even more beneficial when only healthy plant-based foods
-- such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts -- are included
in your daily diet, as opposed to refined grains, starches and sugars,
according to the study, published in the journal JAMA Internal
Medicine on Monday.
"We found that eating plant-based diets
was associated with, on average, 23% reduction in diabetes risk," said Dr.
Qi Sun, an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in
Boston and senior author of the paper.
"We further showed that individuals who
consumed a healthy version of the plant-based diet by emphasizing the intake of
fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes, and minimizing intake
of sugar-sweetened beverages and refined carbohydrates, had a further 30%
reduction in their risk of developing type 2 diabetes," he said. "I
would describe these risk reductions as being quite significant."
Doctors have long known that a healthy diet --
along with regular exercise, maintaining a healthy body weight and not smoking
-- are among the ways to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.
"Indeed, a vegetarian or other
plant-based diets that are high in free sugars and refined carbohydrates is
likely to increase risk of type 2 diabetes especially when associated with low
levels of physical activity," Tom Sanders, professor emeritus of nutrition
and dietetics at King's College London noted in a written
statement distributed by the Science Media Centre in
the UK. He was not involved in the new paper.
More than 30 million people in the United
States, or about 1 in 10, have diabetes and up to 95% of them have type 2
diabetes, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Globally, diabetes is on the rise -- the
number of people with diabetes has climbed from 108 million in 1980 to 422
million in 2014, according to the World Health Organization.
The new paper involved reviewing nine
previously published studies on plant-based eating habits and type 2 diabetes
among adults. Those studies included a total of 23,544 cases of type 2
diabetes.
After reviewing the data in those studies, the
researchers found that a higher adherence to a plant-based diet was associated
with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes -- and that was consistent across all age
groups and despite a person's body mass index.
Body mass index, or BMI, is a person's weight
in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters, and the
measurement is used to screen for obesity. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered
overweight, and a BMI of 30 or greater is considered obese.
Obesity is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
There were some limitations in the new paper, including
that the dietary data in the studies were based on people self-reporting their
eating habits, which poses a risk of bias. Also only an association between
plant-based diets and lower diabetes risk was found. More research is needed to
determine if a causal relationship indeed exists.
"The paper does support what has been
reported before, that diets with high fibre content are associated with reduced
risk of cardio-vascular and metabolic diseases," Alexandra Johnstone, a
senior research fellow at the University of Aberdeen's Rowett Institute of Nutrition
and Health in Scotland, said in a written statement distributed
by the Science Media Centre in the UK. She was
not involved in the new paper.
"Future research needs to focus on what
components of a plant-based diet are linked to preventative health
effects," she said in the statement.
The new paper relied on those previously
published studies to define "plant-based diet" but in general,
"there are many types of diets that can be regarded as a plant-based diet,
ranging from the strict vegan diet, the vegetarian diets, to diets that
emphasize the intake of plant-based foods but do not completely exclude animal
product intake," Harvard's Sun said.
The paper showed that eating a primarily
plant-based diet that included some animal products, such as meat, can still be
beneficial, Sun said. "Keep in mind that many healthy eating patterns,
such as Mediterranean diet or DASH diet, are also largely plant-based. For
people who already practice these diets, I think they are on the right
path."
The Mediterranean diet won the gold as
2019's best overall diet in rankings earlier this year by US News and World Report.
In 2018, the top spot for best overall diet
was a tie between the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet, which stands for
dietary approaches to stop hypertension, or high blood pressure. This year,
DASH came in second.
When it came to diabetes diets in particular,
the Mediterranean diet still held the No. 1 spot in the rankings.
Four diets tied for second place in the US
News and World Report ranking: the DASH diet, the flexitarian diet, the
Volumetrics diet and the Mayo Clinic diet, which says it provides personalized
meal plans, weight and fitness trackers and the expertise of nearly a dozen
experts.
"The foods in the Mediterranean diet are
really high in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and fiber, which are all key
components for reducing the risk for chronic disease," Atlanta registered
dietitian Rahaf Al Bochi, who teaches the Mediterranean diet to her clients and
is also a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, said in January.
"It's more than a diet, it's a
lifestyle," she said. "It also encourages eating with friends and
family, socializing over meals, mindfully eating your favorite foods, as well
as mindful movement and exercise for a complete healthy lifestyle."
CNN's Sandee LaMotte contributed to this
report.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/22/health/plant-based-diet-diabetes-study/index.html
No comments:
Post a Comment