Eat Fruit & Reduce Diabetic Risk

What does eating fruit have to do with reducing your risk of diabetes? Based on research from the Harvard School of Public health quite a bit! Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health identified that eating certain whole fruits may reduce the risk for Type 2 diabetes, even though fruit juice consumption may actually increase the risk of diabetes.

Research on Diabetes & Eating Fruits
Investigators combined data from 3 studies: the Nurses' Health Study of more than 66,000 patients, the Nurses' Health Study II of more than 85,000 patients and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study with over 36,000 patients. The participants in all 3 studies completed questionnaires assessing health and lifestyle factors, including diet, every 2 years.

The researchers excluded participants with a baseline diagnosis of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer, as well as those who had missing data for fruit or fruit juice consumption or an extremely high or low caloric intake, and those who had an unclear date of diabetes diagnosis.

The analysis was adjusted for personal, lifestyle, and dietary risk factors for diabetes.

The researchers concluded that every 3 servings of fruit per week were associated with a lower risk for Type 2 diabetes. When the researchers looked at individual types of fruit in a multivariate analysis, adjusted for the same factors, they found that 3 servings per week of some fruits were more closely associated with reduced risk of diabetes especially blueberries, grapes and apples.

If you or someone you know has a question about eating fruit and risk of diabetes or diabetic eye disease and problems, please call The Eye Care & Surgery Center at 908-789-8999, visit The Eye Care & Surgery Center, Google+ or facebook.com/eyecareandsurgerycenter to schedule an appointment.

The Eye Care & Surgery Center is located at 592 Springfield Avenue, Westfield, New Jersey 07090, 10 Mountain Boulevard, Warren, New Jersey 07059 and 517 Route One South, Suite 1100, Iselin, New Jersey 08830, and is conveniently located for patients from throughout central and northern New Jersey.