Types 2 Diabetes - Why People of African Descent Need a Different Diabetes Diet!
The rate of type 2 diabetes is especially high among persons of sub-Saharan African descent in the United Kingdom and especially in the United States.
A study published in the online medical journal PLoS ONE finds that part of the reason so many African-Americans suffer type 2 diabetes is that they are prescribed the wrong diet...
they are told to eat the wrong foods for their genes which control their carbohydrate metabolism.
Numerous studies of vegetarian diets have found them to be protective against type 2 diabetes.
Seventh Day Adventists in California, for instance, most of whom follow a vegetarian diet, have rates of type 2 diabetes less than half that of the general population.
The overwhelming majority of Seventh Day Adventists, however, are not of African descent.
Researchers analyzing the results of a 2009 study stated that: "Using genetic samples obtained from a cohort of subjects undergoing cardiac-related evaluation, a strict algorithm that filtered for genomic features at multiple levels identified 151 differentially-expressed genes between Americans of African ancestry and those of European ancestry.
Many of the genes identified were associated with glucose and simple sugar metabolism, suggestive of a model whereby selective adaptation to the nutritional environment differs between populations of humans separated geographically over time.
" If there are 151 different genes at work in type 2 diabetes in Blacks, it just could be that a different diet is required.
And since those 151 genes all regulate carbohydrate metabolism, it could be that what is needed for type 2 diabetes in African-Americans is a low-carbohydrate diet.
Unfortunately, science has not yet determined exactly what that diet is.
If you are a person of African heritage and you have type 2 diabetes, don't hesitate to try a different approach if your blood sugars levels are not in good control, if they remain unstable.
Try eating a variety of low-carbohydrate, non-starchy greens that would be well-known in an African diet, such as sweet potato greens (not just the high-carb orange tubers) and okra.
Choose from carbs that contain plenty of fiber...
brightly colored fruit and vegetables.
Try eating as if you lived on the land...
and no fast food, no processed food was available for hundreds of miles in any direction.
People of African descent living in the Unites States and the United Kingdom suffer much higher rates of complications from type 2 diabetes, especially kidney disease.
Following the right diet as early as possible when you find you have type 2 diabetes may save years of treatment for diabetic complications later in your life.
A study published in the online medical journal PLoS ONE finds that part of the reason so many African-Americans suffer type 2 diabetes is that they are prescribed the wrong diet...
they are told to eat the wrong foods for their genes which control their carbohydrate metabolism.
Numerous studies of vegetarian diets have found them to be protective against type 2 diabetes.
Seventh Day Adventists in California, for instance, most of whom follow a vegetarian diet, have rates of type 2 diabetes less than half that of the general population.
The overwhelming majority of Seventh Day Adventists, however, are not of African descent.
Researchers analyzing the results of a 2009 study stated that: "Using genetic samples obtained from a cohort of subjects undergoing cardiac-related evaluation, a strict algorithm that filtered for genomic features at multiple levels identified 151 differentially-expressed genes between Americans of African ancestry and those of European ancestry.
Many of the genes identified were associated with glucose and simple sugar metabolism, suggestive of a model whereby selective adaptation to the nutritional environment differs between populations of humans separated geographically over time.
" If there are 151 different genes at work in type 2 diabetes in Blacks, it just could be that a different diet is required.
And since those 151 genes all regulate carbohydrate metabolism, it could be that what is needed for type 2 diabetes in African-Americans is a low-carbohydrate diet.
Unfortunately, science has not yet determined exactly what that diet is.
If you are a person of African heritage and you have type 2 diabetes, don't hesitate to try a different approach if your blood sugars levels are not in good control, if they remain unstable.
Try eating a variety of low-carbohydrate, non-starchy greens that would be well-known in an African diet, such as sweet potato greens (not just the high-carb orange tubers) and okra.
Choose from carbs that contain plenty of fiber...
brightly colored fruit and vegetables.
Try eating as if you lived on the land...
and no fast food, no processed food was available for hundreds of miles in any direction.
People of African descent living in the Unites States and the United Kingdom suffer much higher rates of complications from type 2 diabetes, especially kidney disease.
Following the right diet as early as possible when you find you have type 2 diabetes may save years of treatment for diabetic complications later in your life.