Diabetes Diet Blog » Nutrition http://www.diabetesdietblog.com Information, tips, latest research news and facts about Diabetes diet Fri, 01 Jun 2007 04:46:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Natural Sweeteners http://www.diabetesdietblog.com/nutrition/natural-sweeteners/ http://www.diabetesdietblog.com/nutrition/natural-sweeteners/#comments Sun, 31 Dec 2006 16:00:42 +0000 Dimitris http://www.diabetesdietblog.com/nutrition/natural-sweeteners/ In my previous post (quite some time ago) I talked about how can coffee lower the risk for type 2 diabetes. A rather relevant topic can be sugar alternatives. Which is sugar alternatives are the best for diabetics is a question that I can not honestly answer. However, personally I prefer natural sweeteners instead of artificial ones. One good choice of a sugar substitute for example is xylitol, a natural sweetener with a glycemic index of 7 and fewer calories than sugar. However, as it is stated in diabetes.org, even the not natural low-calorie sweeteners have been tested and have been found to be safe so I guess it comes down to personal preference.

]]> http://www.diabetesdietblog.com/nutrition/natural-sweeteners/feed/ 0 Alcohol consumption and the risk of Type 2 Diabetes http://www.diabetesdietblog.com/diabetes-type-2/alcohol-consumption-and-the-risk-of-type-2-diabetes/ http://www.diabetesdietblog.com/diabetes-type-2/alcohol-consumption-and-the-risk-of-type-2-diabetes/#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2006 21:58:56 +0000 Dimitris http://www.diabetesdietblog.com/diabetes-type-2/alcohol-consumption-and-the-risk-of-type-2-diabetes/ Moderate alcohol consumption has been proven to be beneficial in cutting down the risk for many conditions and most importantly heart disease. So, what is the relationship between alcohol consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes? A number of prospective epidemiological studies have shown that moderate alcohol consumption has an inverse association with the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. To be more precise moderate alcohol consumption appears to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by about 30%(Diabetes Care. 2005 Mar;28(3):719-25). The most recent published study, was conducted in the Netherlands (Diabetes Care. 2005 Dec;28(12):2933-8) in a sample of 16,330 women aged 49-70 years old. The researchers concluded that moderate alcohol consumption, significantly decreases the risk of type 2 diabetes. The type of alcohol doesn’t however appear to play a significant role.

Diabetics, should be careful with alcohol consumption because it may increase the risk of hypoglycemia. Also, it has been shown to lead to suboptimal preventive practices like not performing daily glucose tests (Fam Med. 2005 Sep;37(8):589-94.). Nonetheless, moderate alcohol consumption can decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease. So as always moderation is the key.

You can find an excellent systematic review of the effects of alcohol consumption on diabetes here (pdf file)

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