Did you ever wonder if the food you eat? Is a direct effect on your health well-being and Longevity. Well, I'm here to end that mystery. You are the food, you eat. Welcome to the nutrition facts podcast. I'm your host. Dr. Michael Greger today. We look at the best way to control diabetes, starting with the remarkable results of a crossover study. Randomizing hundreds of people with diabetes to 1 and 1/3 cup of
millet every day.
How does Millet come to the help of diabetics a substantial portion of the starch in Millet is resistant starch, meaning resistant to digestion in our small intestine. So providing a bounty for the good bugs in our colon. All way more than more common grains, like rice or wheat, but Pro, so and Koto, Millet lead the pack. What's going on the protein matrix in milodon?
Acts as a physical barrier, but actually also partially sequester's, your starch munching enzyme, and the Millet polyphenols can also act as starch blockers in and of themselves. Millet also has a remarkably slower stomach emptying times than other starchy Foods. I, if you eat, white, rice, boiled potatoes, or pasta, your stomach takes about an hour to digest it before, starting to slowly, dump it into your intestines, and two or three hours to empty about halfway.
Whereas you eat sorghum or Millet and stomach emptying doesn't even start until two or three hours. I mean, take five hours to empty. Even halfway note. This was for both a thick, Millet porridge or for just like Millet couscous. Oh, since the non viscous Millet, couscous meal was also equally slow and emptying. This suggests. There may just be something about Millet itself that helps slow stomach.
Language should blunt the blood sugar Spike, but you don't know, until you put it to the test and indeed Mill it cost about a 20% lower surgeon, blood sugar than the same amount of carbs in the form of rice. Remember, how excited I was to show you how it only took the body, like, you know, half the insulin to handle sorghum, compared to a grain, like Cornwell Mill. It did even better, give a group of pre-diabetics.
Maybe about three quarters of a cup of millet, a day. And within six weeks, their insulin resistance dropped so much there. Pre-diabetic fasting, blood sugars turned into non pre-diabetic blood sugar's this so-called self controlled clinical trial the same subject before. And after that's just a sneaky way of saying, Uhn controlled trial. There was no control group that didn't add the Millet or added something else. We know, just being in a study under scrutiny can cause people to eat better.
Another way. So we don't know what role, if any the mill itself played. What we need is a randomized, controlled crossover trial were the same. People eat, both a millet, containing and non-military containing diet, and see which works better. And here we go, randomized. Crossover study having hundreds of patients, both doing American Diabetes, Association typed out with or without about 1/3 cup of millet everyday and the milk based diet low.
Lowered hemoglobin A1c levels, meaning in Improvement, in long term, blood sugar control along with some side benefits, like lowering cholesterol, the target for good blood, sugar control recommended by the American Diabetes. Association is an A1C less than 7 and they started out at an eight point three seven, but after a few months on Millet dropped to an average of six point seven, seven, is it just because they lost weight or something? Now suggesting that was in effect.
Effect to the Millet, but they didn't just give Millet, they mix the Millet with split black, lentils, and spices. And we know from dozens, of randomized, controlled experimental, trials, and people with, and without diabetes, that the consumption of pulses, meaning beans, split peas, chick peas, or lentils can improve long-term measures of blood sugar control, like A1C levels. So all the researchers conclude that millets have the potential for a protective role in the management of diabetes. A more accurate conclusion, might be a
mix of millet and lentils could be protective though. Hey, maybe the spices help to they didn't say which ones they used. I couldn't get hold of the author's, but a similar study done by the one of the same researchers included about a tablespoon of day of a mixture of fenugreek coriander cumin, and black pepper with a fifth spice, perhaps a cinnamon, or turmeric
in our next story. We look at the reason why professional diabetes association's recommend be chick.
But being lentil consumption as a means of optimizing. Diabetes control, how did doctors treat? Diabetes? Before insulin, almost a thousand medicinal plants were described as anti-diabetic agents. Most of which have been used in traditional medicine and these included beans, of course, just because something's been used for centuries, doesn't mean it's safe. Other treatments for diabetes have
Alluded Arsenic and uranium. Thankfully, many of these remedies fell by the wayside, but scientific interest in the anti-diabetic potential of beans, never vanish completely. And even was raised in the past decade Health authorities from all over the world. Universally recommend increasing the consumption of whole grains and legumes for health-promoting diets. And one of the reasons is that they may decrease insulin resistance, the defining trait of type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes is a global Public Health epidemic, although oral hypoglycemic medications and injected insulin or the Mainstay treatments of diabetes and are effective in controlling high blood sugars. They have prominent side effects and failed to significantly alter the course of diabetic complications, common side effects include weight gains. Well and liver disease, but I want to emphasize that second part the Mainstay of diabetic treatment.
Fails to significantly alter the course of diabetic complications. Shouldn't that be the whole point of treatment. Thankfully lifestyle modifications have proven to be greatly affecting the management of this disease. And if there's one thing diabetic should eat, it's legumes beans, chickpeas, split peas, and lentils, the European Association. For study of diabetes, the Canadian Diabetes Association, and the American Diabetes Association.
All recommend the consumption of dietary pulses as a means of optimizing diabetes control what our pulses. There are peas and beans that come dried. So a subset of legumes. So excluding green, beans, and fresh green peas, which are considered more like vegetables. And also excluding the so-called oil seeds, soy beans, and peanuts. This review compiled 41, randomized, controlled experimental trials, including more than a thousand patients corroborating. The official Diabetes Association nutrition guidelines.
Recommending the consumption of pulses as a means of optimizing diabetes control any better than any of the others. Well some of the strongest evidence came from the studies that used the chickpeas. And in terms of beans pintos and black beans, maybe doubt, kidney beans. Compared to the blood sugar Spike of straight, white rice, black beans, and rice and pinto beans and rice.
Odd to beat out, kidney beans, and rice. This may be because dark red kidney beans can have lower levels of indigestible. Start. One of the reasons beans are so healthy is they contain compounds a partially block or starts digesting enzyme, which allows some starch to make it down to our: to feed our good gut bacteria. In fact, the inhibition of the star cheating enzyme analyze, just by eating beans approximates that of a car blocking drug of a carbo sold as pre Coast a popular.
Medication the long-term use of beans May normalize hemoglobin A1c levels, which is how you track diabetes almost as well as the drug without drug side effects with names, like acute, generalized accent amatus, pustule osis, finally today. We look at the best diet for diabetes prevention. There are all sorts of different scoring systems to rate diet quality. My favorite for its Simplicity is the dietary phytochemical and
Dex fancy name for a simple concept. It's just the percentage of your calories from Whole plant Foods. So 0 to 100. The average American diet has a score of 12 a 12 out of a hundred. So like on a scale of 1 to 10 are diet is a one you can split people up based on how they score and show how the higher you score, the better your metabolic markers when it comes to diabetes risk. There appears to be like this stepwise, drop, and insulin resistance, and insulin.
And beta cell dysfunction, as you eat more and more plant-based and that highest group was only scoring about 30 less than a third of their diet was whole plant food, but better than the lowest which was down around the standard American diet, no wonder diet, centered around plants, emphasizing legumes are being split, peas, chickpeas, lentils, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. And discouraging most are all animal products are especially potent in preventing type 2.
He teased and as a little bonus has been associated with much, lower rates of obesity hypertension, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular mortality, and cancer and not just preventing type 2 diabetes, but treating it as well. A systematic review and meta-analysis found that the consumption of vegetarian diets is associated with improved blood sugar control, but how much improved. Here's one of the latest trials, the effect of a strictly plant-based diet is centered around.
Downright was done in Asia versus the conventional diabetic diet, on blood sugar control of patients with type 2 diabetes, a 12-week randomized, clinical trial for the diabetic control diet. They set up food exchanges, and calculated specific calorie and Portion controls. Whereas on the plant-based diet people could eat as much, say one. That's one of the benefits, the emphasis is on food quality rather than quantity and they still actually lost more weight, but even after,
After controlling for the greater abdominal fat loss. In the plant-based group. They still want out. Of course, it only works if you actually do it, but those that pretty much stuck to the healthier diet drop their A1C levels. Point nine percent, which is what you get taking the leading diabetes drug, but of course only with good side effects. Yeah, but would it work in an underserved population, the impact of a plant-based diet support program on mitigating type 2.
He's in San Bernardino of the poorest city of its size in California are randomized, controlled trial, but not of a plant-based diet itself, as the title suggests, but if just an education program, telling people about the benefits of a plant-based diet for diabetes and then it was up to them and still got a significant Improvement in blood sugar control. Here are the numbers. Got a little better in the control group, but way better in the
A plant based instruction and support group and more plant-based diets are not just effective in the prevention and management of diabetes. But also its complications. One of the most devastating complications of diabetes is kidney failure. The decline in kidney function in eight diabetics in the one or two years before switching their diets. They all showed this steady inexorable decline on a fast track to complete kidney failure, and dialysis, but
Then they switched to a special supplemented vegan diet and their kidney decline was stopped in its tracks. Imagine if they had switched a year or two earlier most diabetics, don't actually end up on dialysis though, because they die. First cardiovascular disease is the major cause of premature mortality among diabetics. That's why plant-based diets are perfect. There's a general scientific.
Senses that the elements of a whole food plant-based diet, legumes whole grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts with limited or no intake of processed foods and animal products are highly beneficial for preventing and treating type 2. Diabetes equally important plant based diets address the bigger picture by simultaneously treating cardiovascular disease. Our number one killer along with obesity high blood pressure lowering inflammation, and we can throw cancer into the mix to our number two. Killer the bottom.
Is that the case for using a plant-based diet to reduce the burden of diabetes and improve overall, health has never been stronger. We would love it. If you could share with us your stories about, Reinventing Your Health through evidence-based nutrition. Good nutritionfacts.org /. Testimonials. We make sure it on our social media to help Inspire others to see any graphs charts Graphics images of studies mentioned here. Please go to the nutrition facts podcast, Landing.
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