A handful of pistachios can decrease glycemic response

A couple of handfuls of pistachio nuts eaten with a high-glycemic meal such as pasta can do wonders for postprandial glucose and insulin levels, especially in people with metabolic syndrome, according to new research presented here at the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) World Diabetes Congress 2011.

The study, sponsored by the Western Pistachio Association, Fresno, California, included 20 patients with metabolic syndrome (12 women; average age, 54 years) and an average body mass index of 37.5 kg/m2, reported lead investigator Cyril W.C. Kendall, PhD, from the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

In an expansion of research recently published by his group (Eur J Clin Nutrition. 2011;65:696-702), Dr. Kendall described how pistachios (84 g) were served to fasting patients, either alone or in combination with white bread (50 g) or white bread with butter and cheese.

Venous and finger-prick blood sampling was used to assess glucose and insulin responses over 3 hours, as well as glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and ghrelin.

The study found that when carbohydrates were consumed with pistachios there was a blunted postprandial glycemic response, suggesting a beneficial effect for patients with the metabolic syndrome.

A previous paper published by the group showed the glycemic response to meals of rice and pasta was similarly blunted by pistachio nuts, and the response approached statistical significance with instant mashed potatoes.

"These data demonstrate that the addition of pistachios to foods with high available carbohydrate content reduces the overall glycemic impact of the foods studied [parboiled rice, pasta, white bread, and mashed potatoes], despite increasing the overall available carbohydrate content," the authors wrote.

But Dana Dabelea, MD, PhD, associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, and moderator of the session at which the findings were presented, said she is not convinced.

"I'm not convinced by what I've seen because I've seen comparisons to certain food groups that I wouldn't normally associate with pistachios, like pasta and potatoes. It's difficult to select the best reference group," she told Medscape Medical News.

"We're looking at mechanisms," Dr. Kendall responded in an interview. "Nuts have healthy protein and healthy fats and they're low in available carbohydrate, so hopefully they're replacing available carbohydrate, which tends to have a high glycemic index in North America. The effects are quite modest, but these are some of the mechanisms by which nuts — and pistachios in particular — help to improve glycemic control."

The study was sponsored by the Western Pistachio Association, Fresno, California. Dr. Kendall is a co-investigator on an unrestricted grant from the Coca-Cola Company and has served on the scientific advisory board and received research support, travel funding, consultant fees, or honoraria from Pulse Canada, Barilla, Solae, Unilever, Hain Celestial, Loblaws Inc., Oldways Preservation Trust, the Almond Board of California, the International Nut Council, Paramount Farms, the California Strawberry Commission, the Canola and Flax Councils of Canada, and Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. He also receives partial salary funding from research grants provided by Unilever, Loblaws, and the Almond Board of California. Dr. Dabelea has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

International Diabetes Federation (IDF) World Diabetes Congress 2011. Abstract # O-0479. Presented December 6, 2011.

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Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/754929?sssdmh=dm1.740456&src=nldne

Nut consumption increases serotonin levels to prevent metabolic syndrome

Researchers from the Biomarkers & NutriMetabolomics Research Group of the University of Barcelona in Spain studied the biochemical effects of nut consumption on metabolic syndrome and human health. 

They put 22 patients with diagnosed metabolic syndrome on a nut-enriched diet for 12 weeks and compared them to another group of 20 patients, who were told to avoid nuts. 

The scientists analyzed the full spectrum of compounds excreted in the patients' urine and found evidence of several healthful changes.

"Dietary changes may help patients shed the excess weight and become healthier... the regular consumption of nuts, which are jam-packed with healthful nutrients, such as healthy fats (unsaturated fatty acids) and antioxidants (polyphenols) have been recommended to fight the metabolic abnormalities associated with MetS."Researchers determined for the first time that nut consumption boosted serotonin levels to promote satiety and happiness.

Nutrition scientists now understand that the fats provided with regular nut consumption correlate closely to improved human health. In the past, nuts have been branded with a high-fat stigma and avoided by many health-minded people. Fortunately we now have solid evidence to show nuts are a super food that can help prevent chronic disease including MetS. The study authors concluded that one ounce of nuts eaten daily"reduced levels of substances in the body associated with inflammation and other cardiovascular risk factors in patients with metabolic syndrome."Grab a handful of tasty nuts to help ward off metabolic syndrome and chronic illness.

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/034086_raw_nuts_metabolic_syndrome.html#ixzz1dYCrzBBm

Vitamin E tocotrienols protect the heart and prevent metabolic syndrome

Photo credit: Kittikun Atsawintarangkul

Few people pay attention to the importance of vitamin E, much less to the multi-fractioned mirror image versions of the vitamin known as isomers (consisting of tocotrienols and tocopherols).

Vitamin E has long been known as a nutrient that may play a role in maintaining heart health, but extensive new research explains that the vitamin in all its potent forms is required to dramatically lower the risk of heart disease and heart attack.

Recent studies also confirm that the nutrient family may play a crucial role in thwarting the effects of metabolic syndrome, precursor to the diabetes epidemic. Health-minded individuals may need to supplement with a full spectrum form of the vitamin to obtain the sufficient quantities needed to avert the multitude of chronic killer diseases that plaque millions today.

An ever expanding detailed body of evidence is mounting to support the importance of the tocotrienol fraction of vitamin E. While all eight isomers are required for optimal health and disease prevention, the four tocotrienols have emerged as critical components shown to influence LDL cholesterol particle size and oxidation rate. Researchers publishing the result of a study in the journal Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry explain that tocotrienols protect the heart against adverse gene signaling that is a consequence of elevated cholesterol.


Study Found Vitamin E Tocotrienols Lowered Damage to Heart Muscle by 75%A study was designed using rabbits placed on a high cholesterol diet for a period of 60 days. The test animals were supplemented with alpha, gamma, or delta tocotrienols for 30 days, and then subjected to experimentally induced heart attack.

Measures of serum cholesterol were cut in half in the rabbits on gamma tocotrienol and nearly in half on those receiving the alpha tocotrienol isomer. The delta tocotrienol form did not exert any effect on cholesterol. Additionally, gamma tocotrienol reduced damage to the heart by 77% and alpha tocotrienol resulted in 67% less damage to the critical heart muscle.

Metabolic syndrome is a group of symptoms closely associated with the development of diabetes. People exhibiting metabolic syndrome characteristics run more than twice the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Researchers from the University of Southern Queensland in Australia found "Tocotrienols improved lipid profiles and reduced atherosclerotic lesions, decreased blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin concentrations, normalized blood pressure, and inhibited adipogenesis."

Researchers determined that a variety of different receptors or genetic signaling mechanisms are involved that can prevent the dangerous systemic inflammation known to precipitate heart disease and diabetes.

Natural sources of vitamin E tocotrienols include most varieties of nuts and seeds as well as coconut oil in its unrefined state. Most people will want to ensure adequate intake of this critical nutritional fraction by including a full-spectrum supplement to improve heart health and prevent metabolic syndrome.

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Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/033922_vitamin_E_metabolic_syndrome.html#ixzz1bJlIwEd7

Rice is nice, but beans are better for diabetes

Never mind the gas. Time to pile on the beans and skip the white rice. Research now confirms that white rice is linked to a pre-diabetic stage known as 'metabolic syndrome'.  

More Beans, Less White Rice Tied to Less Diabetes

By Adam Marcus

New York (Reuters Health) Sep 01 -- Beans and rice are a classic combination throughout the western hemisphere, but a study in Costa Rica finds that the bean half of the equation may be better for health.

Researchers found that people who regularly swapped a serving of white rice for one of beans had a 35% lower chance of showing symptoms that usually precede diabetes.

"Rice is very easily converted into sugar by the body. It's very highly processed, it's pure starch and starch is a long chain of glucose," said Dr. Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, who was part of the study team.

"Beans compared with rice contain much more fiber, certainly more protein and they typically have a lower glycemic index -- meaning they induce much lower insulin responses," he told Reuters Health.

Dr. Hu's group looked at the diets of nearly 1,900 Costa Rican men and women participating in a study of risk factors for heart disease between 1994 and 2004. None of the participants had diabetes at the start of the study.

As Costa Rica has become richer and more urbanized, rice consumption has risen while intake of beans has fallen, Dr. Hu said. Meanwhile, the rate of diabetes in the country has soared.

The extra rice might be at least partly to blame, the Harvard group concludes. They found that people who ate more white rice over time had higher blood pressure and elevated levels of sugar and triglycerides and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

But in those who substituted a serving of beans for a serving of white rice the risk of metabolic syndrome was reduced by 35%, the researchers reported August 3rd in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Although rice may be a larger part of diets outside the U.S., the findings have important implications in this country, Dr. Hu said. Americans are consuming more rice than ever, up from 9.5 pounds per person in 1980 to 21 pounds per person in 2008, government figures show. Consumption of dry beans is markedly lower, at about seven pounds a year per person, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

That's a bad trend, said Dr. Hu, especially if people are eating white rice rather than brown rice. From the body's perspective, a serving of white rice "is like eating a candy bar - the fiber and other nutrients are stripped away," said Dr. Hu, who added that the trend "will have long-term metabolic effects."

"It would be useful to introduce more legumes, including beans, into our diet to replace white rice and some of the red meat," he told Reuters Health.

The Harvard team's findings do not prove that white rice raises diabetes risk or that beans lower it. In previous research, Dr. Hu and his colleagues have found that eating brown rice may protect against type 2 diabetes.

"It doesn't surprise me that you get better health outcomes in bean eaters," said Dr. David Jenkins, a nutrition researcher at the University of Toronto who developed the concept of the glycemic index to help diabetics gauge the effect various foods would have on their blood sugar. "Beans are notable among plant foods" for having a modest effect on blood sugar, he explained.

Although Dr. Jenkins said the health benefits of different beans might vary, "as a class they hang together pretty well, and much more uniformly than other foods."

SOURCE: http://news.yahoo.com/more-beans-less-white-rice-tied-less-diabetes-175636365.html