A diet high in fiber helps control type 2 diabetes
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CHICAGO – A team of American and Chinese researchers have discovered that consuming dietary fiber helps stabilize blood sugar in diabetes through an effect on intestinal bacteria (microbiome). In addition to a positive effect on blood sugar, this high-fiber diet led to greater weight loss and better control of blood lipid levels. Diabetes affects around 422 million people worldwide, according to the latest WHO figures. The vast majority, around 90%, have type 2 diabetes. This develops when the pancreas produces too little insulin, a hormone that helps glucose enter cells for energy, or when the body does not use insulin properly. Recently Scandinavian researchers proposed to classify diabetes into 5 types or forms, as Creapharma talked about.
Study in detail
This Sino-American study, which lasted 6 years, was conducted by scientists from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey (USA) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. People with type 2 diabetes were divided into 2 groups. In the control group, participants received standard training and dietary recommendations. Participants in the treatment group were given a large amount of foods high in different dietary fibers, these included whole grains, traditional high fiber Chinese foods and prebiotics. The latter undergo a growth of short-chain fatty acids in the intestinal bacteria (microbiota). Both groups took the drug acarbose to help control blood sugar. The amount of calories ingested was the same in the 2 groups.
Results
After 12 weeks, participants in the treatment (fiber) group had a greater reduction in blood sugar than the control group. Already after 28 days, 89% of the patients in the treatment group managed to control their blood sugar compared to only 50% in the control group. Their fasting blood sugar also fell faster and they lost more weight.
More beneficial bacteria for the body
In the gut, many bacteria break down carbohydrates, such as dietary fiber, and produce short-chain fatty acids that nourish our gut cells, signal inflammation, and help control appetite. A shortage of short-chain fatty acids has been linked to type 2 diabetes and other diseases. Surprisingly, of the 141 strains of gut bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids, only 15 are promoted by consuming more fiber and are therefore likely to be key drivers of better health. Supported by the high fiber diet, they became the dominant strains in the gut after increasing levels of short chain fatty acids butyrate and acetate. These acids created a mildly acidic digestive environment that reduced populations of harmful bacteria and led to increased insulin production and better blood sugar control. At the physiological level, short chain fatty acids are linked to an increase in the production of proteins such as GLP-1 which has the function of stimulating the production of insulins. In other words, the consumption of dietary fiber seems to have the ability to modify the composition of intestinal bacteria (microbiota) by increasing the proportion of bacteria beneficial to the body.
The lead author of the study, Prof. Liping Zhao of Rutgers University in New Brunswick explains in a statement of the study: "Our study lays the groundwork and opens the possibility that dietary fiber targeting this group of bacteria in the gut could eventually become an important part of your diet and of your treatment.
