High fibre diets bad for controlling diabetes, heart disease

[Naveed Yaseen]

A new Canadian study has found that beans, peas, pasta, lentils and boiled rice are better for controlling type-2 diabetes and heart disease risks than high-fibre diets like cereals and whole grain bread.

The study “Effect of a Low Glycemic Index or a High Cereal Fibre Diet on Type-2 Diabetes: A Randomised Trial” has found that these foods are better at managing glycemic control for type-2 diabetes and risk factors for coronary heart disease than high-fibre diets.

Professor David Jenkins of Toronto-based St. Michael’s Hospital, who led the study, said their research assumes significance as the incidence of type-2 diabetes is likely to double in the next 20 years.

“Our study shows that a low GI (glycemic index) diet can also minimise the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease. It does this better than a diet high in fibre, but with a higher GI,” he said.

GI is a measure for calculating the glucose level of the blood. A low GI diet contains foods that have a low glucose level.

“Pharmaceuticals used to control type-2 diabetes have not shown the expected benefits in terms of reducing cardiovascular disease. Our hope is that the low GI diet may help all the complications of diabetes,” he added.

As part of their study, Jenkins and his team picked up 210 patients with type-2 daibetes and divided them into two groups for diet treatment.

They compared the effects of a low GI diet versus a high-fibre diet on glycemic control and cardiovascular risk factors for these patients for a period of six months.

After the six-month diet treatment, the researchers found that the haemoglobin level (blood glucose level) decreased by -0.50 percent in the group that was served the low glycemic index diet.

On the other hand, it decreased by only -0.18 percent in the group that was served the high cereal fibre diet, clearly indicating that high-fibre diets were not good for type-2 diabetes patients.

In relation to the effects of these two set of diets in heart stroke control, the researchers observed the ratio of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C).

They found that the ratio showed a greater reduction in the low glycemic index diet group compared with the high-fibre diet group, showing the latter group was at higher risk of heart stroke.

Lean muscle mass helps obese battle cancer better: Lean muscle mass helps obese people battle cancer better, a new study has found.

The study provides evidence that varying body compositions of cancer patients likely plays a role in survival rates, activity levels during the illness and potentially, even the reaction to chemotherapy treatment.

Computed tomography images of 250 obese cancer patients were viewed in the study. Findings indicate that people with a condition called sarcopenic obesity - a depletion of lean muscle mass, paired with being severely overweight - lived an average of 10 months less than their counterparts who were obese, but who had more muscle mass.

“In many cases, people with sarcopenic obesity have as little or sometimes less muscle mass than thin people who look as of they were made of skin and bones,” noted Vickie Baracos, professor of oncology and adjunct professor of human nutrition at the University of Alberta, co-author of the study.

The study was published in Lancet Oncology. They also tended to more often be bedridden and have worse physical function than people who did not have sarcopenic obesity, said an Alberta release. “With obesity reaching new levels, new concepts relating to body weight must be explored,” Baracos said.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=208554