Carb quality matters - reduces diabetes risk

Main Category: Diabetes
Article Date: 15 Feb 2004 - 0:00 PDT


Eat your whole grains and reduce diabetes risk. If you consume whole-grain foods (fiber rich cereals) you could be reducing your chances of developing diabetes (type 2). The study below comes from DIABETES CARE

Carbohydrate Nutrition, Insulin Resistance, and the Prevalence of the Metabolic Syndrome in the Framingham Offspring Cohort

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to examine the relation between carbohydrate-related dietary factors, insulin resistance, and the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in the Framingham Offspring Cohort.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We examined cross-sectional associations between carbohydrate-related dietary factors, insulin resistance, and the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in 2,834 subjects at the fifth examination (1991-1995) of the Framingham Offspring Study.

Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was calculated using the following formula (fasting plasma insulin x plasma glucose)/22.5. The metabolic syndrome was defined using the National Cholesterol Education Program criteria.

RESULTS

After adjustment for potential confounding variables, intakes of total dietary fiber, cereal fiber, fruit fiber, and whole grains were inversely associated, whereas glycemic index and glycemic load were positively associated with HOMA-IR.

The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was significantly lower among those in the highest quintile of cereal fiber (odds ratio [OR] 0.62; 95% CI 0.45-0.86) and whole-grain (0.67; 0.48-0.91) intakes relative to those in the lowest quintile category after adjustment for confounding lifestyle and dietary factors.

Conversely, the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was significantly higher among individuals in the highest relative to the lowest quintile category of glycemic index (1.41; 1.04-1.91).

Total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, fruit fiber, vegetable fiber, legume fiber, glycemic load, and refined grain intakes were not associated with prevalence of the metabolic syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS

Whole-grain intake, largely attributed to the cereal fiber, is inversely associated with HOMA-IR and a lower prevalence of the metabolic syndrome.

Dietary glycemic index is positively associated with HOMA-IR and prevalence of the metabolic syndrome.

Given that both a high cereal fiber content and lower glycemic index are attributes of whole-grain foods, recommendation to increase whole-grain intake may reduce the risk of developing the metabolic syndrome.

Abbreviations:
FFQ, food frequency questionnaire • HOMA-IR, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance

Nicola M. McKeown, PHD1, James B. Meigs, MD, MPH2, Simin Liu, MD, SCD3, Edward Saltzman, MD1, Peter W.F. Wilson, MD4 and Paul F. Jacques, SCD1

1 Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts
2 General Medicine Division and Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
3 Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health and Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
4 Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Medical Genetics, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Paul Jacques, Epidemiology Program, Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111-1524. E-mail: paul.jacques@tufts.edu

This article comes from:
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/current.shtml

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