Low-glycaemic diet to control diabetes

A low-glycaemic index diet is significantly better than a high-fibre diet for keeping the blood glucose levels down in type II diabetics.Glycaemic index, or GI, refers to how rapidly a food causes the blood sugar to rise. High-GI foods, like white bread and potatoes, tend to spur a quick surge in blood sugar, while low-GI foods, such as lentils, soybeans, yogurt and many high-fibre grains, produce a more gradual increase in the blood sugar. Researchers from Canada studied 210 patients with type II diabetes treated with anti-diabetes medications who were randomly allocated to go on either a low-GI diet or a high-fibre diet for 6 months. The data regarding the glucose level in the blood was measured in all the participants. It was found that the glucose level in blood fell by 0.50 percent on the low-GI diet compared with only 0.18 percent on the high-fibre diet. Furthermore, levels of HDL (good) cholesterol levels rose with the low-GI diet but fell with the high-fibre diet. The researchers concluded that low-glycaemic index diets are useful as part of the strategy to improve glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes taking glucose-lowering medications.

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