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- A High-Fiber Diet May
Benefit Diabetics
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In a recent issue of the New England Journal of
Medicine, researchers in Dallas described a study of the effects of fiber
on the blood glucose levels in thirteen obese, adult-onset diabetics. The scientists
tested the effects of each of two diets; one diet, the plan recommended by the American
Diabetes Association, provided a total of 24 g of fiber per day, and the experimental diet
more than doubled that fiber content to 50 g per day. The diets were similar in other
respects, including nutrient levels and calories. After six weeks, researchers found that
the subjects on the higher-fiber diet had lower average blood glucose levels. The findings
offer hope that diabetics may be able to reduce drug intake by eating a fiber-rich diet.
In an editorial commenting on the study in the same
issue of NEJM, Marc Rendell, M.D., of the Creighton Diabetes Center noted that
fiber is well-established for helping to control blood cholesterol levels and promote
healthful bowel function. Indeed, the test subjects did also experience improvements in
blood cholesterol measures. Rendell added that the study "serves as a timely reminder
that, until the advent of insulin in the 1920s, the only treatment for diabetes was
dietary."
| American Ginseng May Help
Control Blood Sugar |
- Actually, in addition to diet, various societies
around the world have also long sought to help control diabetes with
herbs. For example, one of the traditional uses in India of gymnema was for what herbalists there called "honey
urine," which modern clinicians now recognize as diabetes. Other herbs that have also
traditionally been used to help control blood sugar include fenugreek and ginseng. The latter has recently gained
renewed respect as a potential diabetes treatment due to a small but well-controlled study
published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Researchers in Toronto, Canada, tested the effects
of American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) on the blood
sugar levels of 19 subjects. Ten nondiabetics took 3 g of Ontario-grown American ginseng
or a placebo, either forty minutes before or at the same time they ingested a high-sugar
solution. (Such "oral glucose challenges" are a standard way of measuring the
body's ability to balance blood sugar levels.) Nine persons with adult-onset diabetes also
underwent the same test. Taking the ginseng before the sugar dose led to a significant
reduction in glucose absorption among both the diabetics and the nondiabetics. When the
sugar solution was taken simultaneously with the American ginseng, the diabetics still
experienced a reduction, although the nondiabetics did not. Such moderating effects on
glucose absorption have beneficial effects on diabetics' overall health.
The researchers noted that Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng) may also influence
carbohydrate metabolism and diabetes, and that numerous animal studies indicate both it
and American ginseng have significant hypoglycemic (blood-sugar-lowering) effect. The
researchers cited several plausible mechanisms for American ginseng's effect on blood
sugar, including an ability to slow the digestion of food, an effect on glucose transport,
and stimulation of insulin secretion. |
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