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Low-Fiber, High-Sugar Diet Risk Factor For NIDDM In Women

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INSÄNT AV Red DEN 13 :e FEBRUARI, 1997 vid 11 - tiden

Low-Fiber, High-Sugar Diet Risk Factor For NIDDM In Women

A diet high in sugar and low in cereal fiber
significantly increases the risk for women of developing non-insulin-dependent
diabetes mellitus, according to an article in today's JAMA.

Harvard School of Public Health investigator, Dr. Walter C. Willett and colleagues
at Harvard and elsewhere evaluated dietary factors associated with 915 incident
cases of diabetes that occurred in the Nurses' Health Study cohort. They
"...observed that diets with high glycemic load and low cereal fiber content were
positively associated with risk of NIDDM, independent of other dietary factors and
currently known risk factors."

Dr. Willet's team discovered that dietary glycemic index and glycemic load, which
Dr. Willet defines as "...an indicator of global dietary insulin demand..." were
positively associated with risk of diabetes. "Comparing the highest with the lowest
quintile, the relative risk of diabetes was 1.37." In regard to cereal fiber intake,
"...intake was inversely associated with risk of diabetes when comparing the
extreme quintiles."

And these two effects were additive, according to Dr. Willett: "The combination of
a high glycemic load and a low cereal fiber intake further increased the risk of
diabetes...relative risk was 2.50...when compared with a low glycemic load and
high cereal fiber intake."

The results not only point out new dietary risk factors for NIDDM, but also
"...suggest that grains should be consumed in a minimally refined form to reduce
the incidence of diabetes," the authors say.

JAMA 1997;277:472-477.