Eat Your Fruit and Vegies

The Standard American Diet is SAD. Poor lifestyle and dietary habits are a major cause of the escalating rates life-style illnesses like diabetes. A recent study conducted at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and the Harvard School of Public Health demonstrates that one's risk of type 2 diabetes may be reduced by consuming more whole fruits and green leafy vegetables on a daily basis.

The study used data from the Nurses' Health Study, which ran for 18 years from 1984 to 2002. Diet and health information from 71,346 women between the ages of 38 to 63 years were used in the study. The nurses completed food frequency questionnaires once every 4 years. About 7.4% of the nurses included in the study developed diabetes during the study period. The subjects of the study, which was published in Diabetes Care, were also free of cancer and cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study.

The researchers discovered that eating three more servings of whole fruits each day was associated with a lower risk of developing diabetes. Just eating one more serving of green leafy vegetables was also linked to lower diabetes risk. Such correlations existed even after factors such as family history, smoking and weight were taken into account.Fruit juice, however, did not fare so well. "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," said Lydia Bazzano, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Tulane.

Sources
Fresh Vegetables, Fruits Reduce Diabetes Risk (http://www.sph.tulane.edu/pressroom...)

Lydia A Bazzano, Tricia Y Li, Kamudi J Joshipura and Frank B Hu. Intake of Fruit, Vegetables, and Fruit Juices and Risk of Diabetes in Women. Diabetes Care 2008;31:1311-1317.