Orange Juice Intake Increases Women's Diabetes Risk

Frequent intake of orange juice may put a woman at an increased risk of developing type two diabetes, a serious and debilitating disease that becomes progressively more common with age and obesity, the researchers from Harvard Medical School in the U.S. suggest.

Drinking orange juice so far is deemed healthy since it is an excellent source of vitamin C, but a new study published in the journal Diabetes Care revealed that regular consumption of orange juice can amplify the risk of getting type-2 diabetes in women.

The latest findings suggest that the orange juice can raise the body blood sugar due to the absence of any fiber in it. Only sugar, and no fiber, in orange juice gets absorbed very rapidly through the stomach, causing a surge in blood sugar levels, thus increases the risk of contracting diabetes by more than 18 percent.

On the other hand, eating three portions of fruit a day instead of juice actually cuts down the risk of diabetes. The consumption of whole fruit slows down this rapid absorption as the fibers take longer for the stomach to digest.

To reach their findings, scientists from Tulane University in New Orleans and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, tracked 71,346 female nurses and studied their eating habits for 18 years.

After analyzing the data, the researchers found a positive relation between drinking orange juice and Type 2 Diabetesdefine, a major risk factor for heart disease and strokes. They found that those who drank just one glass of orange juice increased their risk of developing diabetes by more than 18 percent while who ate three servings of the whole fruit slashed their risk by 24 percent.

In their report, the researchers concluded that “Consumption of fruit juices may be associated with an increased hazard among women.”

Since the research was carried out only on women, it is yet not known whether consumption of orange juice increases men’s risk of getting diabetes.

Still, the findings are much of significance, warning people who enjoy a glass of juice as part of their five-a-day fruit and veg to reduce their consumption of orange juice and instead intake the fruit as a whole.

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder which results from the deficiency of insulindefine in the body, leading to excessive sugar build up. It's the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. and can cause heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and amputations of all or part of the legs.

The World Health Organization recognizes two main forms of diabetes: type 1 and type 2.

Type-1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that leaves the body without insulin to regulate the metabolism of sugar. It is the condition, in which the body attacks itself, destroying the pancreatic beta cells that the body needs to regulate blood sugar or glucose. The cells in the pancreasdefine produce insulin, the hormone that regulates blood glucose.

Type 2 is characterized by tissue-wide insulin resistance and varies widely; it sometimes progresses to loss of beta cell function. Types 1 and 2 are incurable chronic conditions, but have been treatable since insulin became medically available in 1921.

According to the Geneva-based WHO’s forecast, 6.4% of the global population and 8.4% of the people in the developed countries could suffer diabetes in the year 2030. Between 2000 and 2030, it said the incidence could rise by 39%.