You have the GOOD and BAD in everything. Many people are having one major doubt whether there are bad and good fruits for diabetics. Many of the diabetic patients are not convinced by any answer to this question because they have a mythical belief that the diabetics should never eat fruits at all. This belief is based on the fact that most of the fruits have sugar content. But it is baseless and not admitted by the dietitians because the fruits have nutritional value in themselves. Besides, some fruits are indeed good and needed for the diabetics.

Recent researches on diabetes declare that the diabetics should eat fruits as well as root vegetables with other foods. If the diabetics eat fruits with nuts, the fat in the nuts helps to keep the other foods consumed to stay long in the digestive system. Since the foods that contain fat or protein are slowly digested, eating fruits with nuts and unpeeled skin can control blood glucose levels. So, it is emphasized that the diabetics are benefited when they eat fruits with other foods, not alone as snacks. Fortunately, you have many fruits good for diabetics.

Good fruits for diabetics:

Foods rich in fiber are in general safe for diabetics to eat. Since they have a lower glycemic index, they don’t allow the blood sugar levels to spike as those foods with high glycemic index do. This is because of the characteristics of the fiber to slash down the absorption of sugar into the blood stream. So, the fruits rich in fiber with edible skins and seeds are good fruits for the diabetes.

Fortunately, you have some healthy fruits rich in fiber content that can help controlling blood sugar. The fruits with high fiber content are apple, blueberry, and pomegranate whereas the fruits like apricot, kiwifruit and pear are comparatively low in fiber content.

Fruits with high fructose are also helping to the diabetics in the sense that fructose does not require insulin and can act independently in the human metabolism of the insulin resistant diabetics. The fruits that are high in fructose include apple, guava, pear and mango.

Raw fruits like apples are rich in pectin which is needed to improve controlling glycemic condition of the diabetics. It is also potent enough to metabolize effectively even when there is poor secretion of insulin.

Red grape is another fruit that can give all benefits to the diabetics. Grapes are good fruits for weight loss which is needed to reduce insulin resistance. You have increased benefits of fruits fiber if grapefruits are consumed just after the meal.

Bad fruits for diabetics:

Fruits with high sugar should be consumed in small servings to help controlling blood glucose. They can still be relished as part of a healthy diet meal plan. Fruits with high glucose include banana, watermelon and orange.

Fruit Jam, dried fruits and canned fruits also tend to increase blood sugar whereas consuming fresh fruits can help control blood sugar. The syrup in the canned fruits contains saturated sugar. It is safe that you eat such fruits after draining the syrup with sugar.

Visceral fat-associated alterations in adipokines may mediate the development and progression of atherosclerosis in people with Type 2 diabetes, Japanese study shows.

Visceral adiposity is reported to be an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Daisuke Koya (Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Ishikawa, Japan) and co-workers conducted a study to simultaneously assess the association between visceral adiposity and vascular parameters in people with Type 2 diabetes.

They recruited 151 patients with Type 2 diabetes and 83 nondiabetic, age-matched controls without atherosclerotic disease.

Visceral fat area was evaluated on a CT scan, and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure, and serum levels of adiponectin and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha were measured. The presence of atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries was determined by stiffness index beta, intima??”media thickness (IMT), and plaque formation.

“In addition to an increase in abdominal adiposity, we found that TNF-alpha/adiponectin ratio, HOMA-IR, and serum non-HDL-cholesterol were all higher in the diabetic subjects than in the nondiabetic subjects,” report the authors in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice.

Comparison of carotid atherosclerosis parameters between the diabetic and nondiabetic individuals revealed a thicker IMT, higher stiffness index beta, and more plaque formation in those with diabetes.

In the patients with diabetes, the determinant factors for each carotid atherosclerosis parameter differed: serum non-HDL-cholesterol was associated with IMT; visceral fat area (probably via an increase in TNF-alpha/adiponectin ratio) with stiffness index beta; and visceral fat area, HOMA-IR, and 24-hour systolic blood pressure with plaque formation. These associations were not demonstrated in the nondiabetic controls.

“Our data show that visceral fat-associated alterations in adipokines might be mediating the development and progression of atherosclerosis in Type 2 diabetic subjects,” conclude the authors.

“Improvement of visceral obesity in Type 2 diabetic individuals could be essential to prevent atherosclerosis,” they add.

MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine Group, a part of Springer Science+Business Media. © Current Medicine Group Ltd; 2009

Free abstract

Treatment with pioglitazone improves triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes independently of other lipid-lowering and antihyperglycemic medications, report investigators from the PROactive trial.

“Diabetic dyslipidemia is characterized by hypertriglyceridemia, decreased HDL cholesterol levels, and increased small low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol particles that may contribute to the high level of cardiovascular risk in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus,” explain Robert Spanheimer (Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc., Deerfield, Illinois, USA) and co-researchers.

Pioglitazone Clinical Trial in Macrovascular Events (PROactive).

All PROactive participants had Type 2 diabetes at baseline, of whom 2605 were randomly assigned to treatment with pioglitazone (titrated over 2 months to its maximally approved dosage of 45 mg/day) and 2633 to treatment with placebo in addition to their existing baseline medications. The average follow-up period was 34.5 months.

At baseline, 43% of patients were taking statins, and 10%, 20%, 25%, and 34% were receiving metformin monotherapy, sulfonylurea monotherapy, metformin plus a sulfonylurea, or insulin plus oral agents, respectively.

Following adjustment for baseline medication, the researchers found that triglycerides decreased significantly for all pioglitazone treated individuals by 9.9??”12.3% compared with little change for the placebo group. In addition, HDL cholesterol increased by almost twice as much in pioglitazone- compared with placebo-treated individuals, by 18.1??”20.3% versus 8.1??”11.8%.

However, LDL cholesterol increased moderately in both groups by 5.2??”9.6% in the pioglitazone group and 3.3??”7.6% in the placebo group.

Of note, pioglitazone treatment was associated with a 3.6-kg increase in body weight compared with a 0.4-kg increase in the placebo group.

Edema and heart failure were also more frequently reported in the pioglitazone compared with the placebo group, at 5.7% versus 4.1%. But overall, pioglitazone treatment reduced the relative risk for first cardiovascular event (myocardial infarction, stroke, acute coronary syndrome) by 10% versus placebo.

MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine Group, a part of Springer Science+Business Media. © Current Medicine Group Ltd; 2009

Free abstract

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