Mediterranean diet may help in type 2 diabetes: Study

Mediterranean diet has always been considered a healthy option, but new study findings show that it may also help people stay away from medicines that reduce blood sugar levels. The diet may possibly assist them in shedding those extra pounds besides lowering the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Study findings show that only 44 percent of type 2 diabetics who followed a Mediterranean diet needed medication as compared to 70 percent following a low-fat diet.

Study and its findings
For the latest study purposes, researchers compared 107 people on a low-fat diet to 108 who were consuming a Mediterranean diet.

All the participants in the study, who had been recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, were studied for four years. In the study, the researchers prescribed medicines and were aware who ate a low-fat diet and who consumed a Mediterranean diet.

After four years, it was discovered that 26 percent less people required medication for diabetes in the Mediterranean diet group as compared to the low-fat group.

The study found that the need for medication dropped by 37 percent in people who ate a Mediterranean diet.

Study author Dr. Dario Giugliano, a professor of endocrinology and metabolic diseases at the Second University of Naples in Italy, was quoted as saying, “Eating Mediterranean prevented anti-hyperglycaemic drug therapy in about one-third of patients.”

Not only this, the body-mass index (BMI) plummeted by 1.2 points for those in the Mediterranean diet group as compared to 0.9 for the low-fat diet group, the study found.

Also, the blood pressure and cholesterol readings showed more improvement in the Mediterranean diet group vis-à-vis the low-fat group.

Mediterranean diet: a safe and healthy option
Dr. Giugliano said that the diet is “a safe and tasty means to delay the introduction of anti-diabetic drug therapy in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic people.”

Dr. Giugliano explained, “The Mediterranean-type diet is rich in plant foods, such as fruits, nuts, legumes and cereals, and fish, with olive oils as the primary source of monounsaturated fat and low to moderate intake of wine, as well as low intake of red meat and poultry.”

He said that apart from regulating blood sugar levels, Mediterranean diet also decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and mortality.

“Given that patients with type 2 diabetes still have a two-fold risk of death as compared to the non-diabetic population, these potential benefits are intriguing,” he elaborated.

Type 2 diabetes may becoming a pandemic
Type 2 diabetes is spreading very fast across the globe and it has been predicted that 380 million people will be affected by 2025.

Simple changes in lifestyle can help in preventing the onset of the disease and probably reverse its course as soon as it has been diagnosed. Regular exercise and alteration in diet is the key to controlling type 2 diabetes.

Experts recommend that people suffering from diabetes must consult their dietician in order to come up with a proper diet chart.

The latest study results have been published in the September issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.