Fresh Vegetables, Fruits Reduce Diabetes Risk

Eating just one serving of green leafy vegetables or three servings of fruit a day reduces the risk of developing Type II diabetes, say researchers at Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and the Harvard School of Public Health. The research team also found that one serving of fruit juice a day increased the risk of Type II diabetes in women.

Tulane epidemiologist Dr. Lydia Bazzano says, “Based on the results of our study, people who have risk factors for diabetes may find it helpful to fill up on leafy greens like lettuces, kale and spinach and whole fruits, like apples, bananas, oranges and watermelon rather than drink fruit juices, which deliver a big sugar load in a liquid form that gets absorbed rapidly.”

Bazzano and her team analyzed 18 years worth of diet and health data from 71,346 nurses who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study from 1984 to 2002.

The study was published in the April 4, 2008 online issue of Diabetes Care.

In addition to emphasizing the importance of eating whole fruits and green leafy vegetables to prevent diabetes, the team also recommends replacing refined grains and white potatoes with whole fruit or green leafy vegetable servings.

Fresh fruit and green leafy vegetables such as spinach, silver-beet, and lettuce reduce the risk of developing type-2 diabetes according to a new study published in the journal Diabetes Care. The same study also found that consumption of fruit juice may increase the risk of diabetes.

The researchers analyzed data from 71,346 healthy female nurses between the ages of 38 and 63 over an 18 year period between 1984 and 2002. Over the study period, 4,529 new cases of type-2 diabetes were diagnosed.

The researchers found that a 3-serving increase in fruit each day resulted in an 18% decreased risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Vegetable consumption as a whole was not associated with a decrease in diabetes risk, however consumption of green leafy vegetables was associated with a slight reduction in diabetes risk. Each additional serving of green leafy vegetables per day led to a 9% decrease in the risk of diabetes.

Green leafy vegetables include bok choy, cabbage, lettuce, kale, spinach, watercress, and mustard greens.

Interestingly, fruit juice consumption was linked to an increase in diabetes risk with each additional serving of fruit juice raising diabetes risk by 18%.

The researchers recommend eating fresh fruits rather than fruit juices whenever possible. In particular, people should avoid processed fruit drinks that have large amounts of added sugar as these high calorie beverages provide little nutritional benefit.

The researchers also recommend people limit their consumption of potatoes, white rice, and processed grains as heavy consumption of these foods has been linked to type-2 diabetes in some studies.