Protection against type 2 diabetes offered by a Mediterranean diet and diets low in available carbohydrates

Main Category: Diabetes
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet;  Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Article Date: 19 Aug 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Protection against type 2 diabetes offered by a Mediterranean diet and diets low in available carbohydrates

New research shows that a Mediterranean-style diet and diets low in available carbohydrates can offer protection against type 2 diabetes. The study is published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), and is by Dr Carlo La Vecchia, Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacological Research, Milan, Italy, and colleagues.

The authors studied patients from Greece who are part of the ongoing European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and nutrition (EPIC), led by Dr. Antonia Trichopoulou, from the University of Athens. From a total of 22,295 participants, actively followed up for just over 11 years, 2,330 cases of type 2 diabetes were recorded. To assess dietary habits, all participants completed a questionnaire, and the researchers constructed a 10-point Mediterranean diet score (MDS) and a similar scale to measure the available carbohydrate (or glycaemic load [GL]) of the diet.

People with an MDS of over 6 were 12% less likely to develop diabetes than those with the lowest MDS of 3 or under. Patients with the highest available carbohydrate in their diet were 21% more likely to develop diabetes than those with the lowest. A high MDS combined with low available carbohydrate reduced the chances of developing diabetes by 20% as compared with a diet low in MDS and high in GL.

The authors say: "The role of the Mediterranean diet in weight control is still controversial, and in most studies from Mediterranean countries the adherence to the Mediterranean diet was unrelated to overweight. This suggests that the protection of the Mediterranean diet against diabetes is not through weight control, but through several dietary characteristics of the Mediterranean diet. However, this issue is difficult to address in cohort studies because of the lack of information on weight changes during follow-up that are rarely recorded."

They point out that a particular feature of the Mediterranean diet is the use of extra virgin olive oil which leads to a high ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fatty acids. But again research here has been conflicting. One review of dietary fat and diabetes suggests that replacing saturated and trans fats with unsaturated fats has beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity and is likely to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. However, in a randomised trial of high-cardiovascular-risk individuals who were assigned to the Mediterranean diet supplemented with either free extra virgin olive oil or nuts and were compared with individuals on a low-fat diet (comparison group), there was no difference in diabetes occurrence between the two variants of the Mediterranean diet when compared with the comparison group.

Regarding GL, the authors say: "High GL diet leads to rapid rises in blood glucose and insulin levels. The chronically increased insulin demand may eventually result in pancreatic ß cell failure and, as a consequence, impaired glucose tolerance and increased insulin resistance, which is a predictor of diabetes. A high dietary GL has also been unfavourably related to glycaemic control in individuals with diabetes."

They conclude: "A low GL diet that also adequately adheres to the principles of the traditional Mediterranean diet may reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes."

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our diabetes section for the latest news on this subject. Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

MLA

Diabetologia. "Protection against type 2 diabetes offered by a Mediterranean diet and diets low in available carbohydrates." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 19 Aug. 2013. Web.
19 Aug. 2013. APA

Please note: If no author information is provided, the source is cited instead.

'Protection against type 2 diabetes offered by a Mediterranean diet and diets low in available carbohydrates'

Please note that we publish your name, but we do not publish your email address. It is only used to let you know when your message is published. We do not use it for any other purpose. Please see our privacy policy for more information.

If you write about specific medications or operations, please do not name health care professionals by name.

All opinions are moderated before being included (to stop spam). We reserve the right to amend opinions where we deem necessary.

Contact Our News Editors

For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.

Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:

Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.

View the original article here

Diets lacking omega-3s lead to anxiety, hyperactivity in teens

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Also Included In: Anxiety / Stress;  Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Schizophrenia
Article Date: 31 Jul 2013 - 1:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Diets lacking omega-3s lead to anxiety, hyperactivity in teens

Diets lacking omega-3 fatty acids - found in foods like wild fish, eggs, and grass-fed livestock - can have worsened effects over consecutive generations, especially affecting teens, according to a University of Pittsburgh study.

Published in Biological Psychiatry, the Pitt team found that in a rodent model second-generation deficiencies of omega-3s caused elevated states of anxiety and hyperactivity in adolescents and affected the teens' memory and cognition.

"We have always assumed that stress at this age is the main environmental insult that contributes to developing these conditions in at-risk individuals but this study indicates that nutrition is a big factor, too," said Bita Moghaddam, lead author of the paper and professor of neuroscience in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. "We found that this dietary deficiency can compromise the behavioral health of adolescents, not only because their diet is deficient but because their parents' diet was deficient as well. This is of particular concern because adolescence is a very vulnerable time for developing psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia and addiction."

Performing experiments in rats in Moghaddam's laboratory, the research team examined a "second generation" of omega-3-deficient diets, mimicking present-day adolescents. Parents of many of today's teens were born in the 1960s and 1970s, a time period in which omega-3-deficient oils like corn and soy oil became prevalent, and farm animals moved from eating grass to grain. Since omega-3s are present in grass and algae, much of today's grain-fed cattle contain less of these essential fatty acids.

The Pitt team administered a set of behavioral tasks to study the learning and memory, decision making, anxiety, and hyperactivity of both adults and adolescents. Although subjects appeared to be in general good physical health, there were behavioral deficiencies in adolescents that were more pronounced in second-generation subjects with omega-3 deficiencies. Overall, these adolescents were more anxious and hyperactive, learned at a slower rate, and had impaired problem-solving abilities.

"Our study shows that, while the omega-3 deficiency influences the behavior of both adults and adolescents, the nature of this influence is different between the age groups," said Moghaddam. "We observed changes in areas of the brain responsible for decision making and habit formation."

The team is now exploring epigenetics as a potential cause. This is a process in which environmental events influence genetic information. Likewise, the team is exploring markers of inflammation in the brain since omega-3 deficiencies causes an increase of omega-6 fats, which are proinflammatory molecules in the brain and other tissues.

"It's remarkable that a relatively common dietary change can have generational effects," said Moghaddam. "It indicates that our diet does not merely affect us in the short-term but also can affect our offspring."

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our nutrition / diet section for the latest news on this subject.

Other Pitt researchers involved in the study include Gonzalo Torres (ENGR ’81), associate professor of neurobiology, and, from the Moghaddam laboratory: Corina Bondi, postdoctoral fellow; Jody Tock, laboratory technician; and Nelson Totah (A&S ’12G), now a postdoctoral fellow at Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics. The team also included, from the National Institutes of Health, Stanley Rapoport, senior investigator and chief of the brain physiology and metabolism unit; Ameer Taha, visiting fellow; and Yewon Cheon, program coordinator.

“Adolescent behavior and dopamine availability are uniquely sensitive to dietary omega-3 fatty acid deficiency.” Corina O. Bondi, Ameer Y. Taha, Jody L. Tock, Nelson K.B. Totah, Yewon Cheon, Gonzalo E. Torres, Stanley I. Rapoport, Bita Moghaddam, Biological Psychiatry published online 29 July 2013, doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.06.007.

This research was supported by grants from the U.S. National Institute of Health and the National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program.

University of Pittsburgh

Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

MLA

University of Pittsburgh. "Diets lacking omega-3s lead to anxiety, hyperactivity in teens." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 31 Jul. 2013. Web.
31 Jul. 2013. APA

Please note: If no author information is provided, the source is cited instead.

'Diets lacking omega-3s lead to anxiety, hyperactivity in teens'

Please note that we publish your name, but we do not publish your email address. It is only used to let you know when your message is published. We do not use it for any other purpose. Please see our privacy policy for more information.

If you write about specific medications or operations, please do not name health care professionals by name.

All opinions are moderated before being included (to stop spam). We reserve the right to amend opinions where we deem necessary.

Contact Our News Editors

For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.

Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:

Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.

View the original article here