Customized Diet Reduces Diabetes Risk Across All Age Groups

February 14, 2019
A customized diet is effective in reducing diabetes, a recent study shows. Currently, the recommended diets for diabetics is to  lower calorie and carbohydrate intake. There is no consideration to see how a diabetic will respond to a customized diet.    
The new research from the Mayo Clinic, shows that taking a more individualized approach can produce better results.
Keeping blood glucose at a healthy level reduces the risk of developing diabetes. But until now, reducing high glucose levels has focused on limiting carbohydrate and calorie intake. No consideration was given rather to how individuals respond to different foods.
customized diet

Customized Diet: Diabetes Statistics

More than 100 million adults in the United States are now living with diabetes or prediabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As of 2015, 30.3 million Americans, 10%, of the population have diabetes. Another 84 million have pre-diabetes, a condition that if not treated, will lead to type 2 diabetes within five years.

This disease represents a growing health problem: Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2015.

 

Also about 40% of U.S. adults suffer from pre-diabetes. Symptoms are higher than normal blood sugar levels. Left untreated, this can lead to  type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

One of the current treatments to control diabetes is to eat a diet that is low in calories and carbohydrates. Such a diet also reduces the risk for obesity and kidney disease. However, not all diabetics respond favorably to a “one diet fits all” approach. Clinicians at the Mayo Clinic have observed that not all diabetics respond positively to this diet. This is just like not all weight loss diets work the same way for all people.

 

Customized Diet: The Mayo Clinic Study For Diabetics

Participants were tested for six days. For breakfast, the volunteers ate bagels and cream cheese. The participants were then free to choose their diet for the rest of the day.
The researchers asked them to record everything they ate, along with any exercise and rest periods. A blood glucose monitor also tracked blood sugar levels every 5 minutes.

The results showed that the Mayo Clinic diet protocol accurately predicted how blood sugar responded to food 62 percent of the time.

This is a a significant improvement compared to the accuracy based on just the current diet for diabetics which is a 40% accuracy rate.

In addition, the research team noted that certain foods on the standard diet resulted in fatigue in some diabetics, but gave others more energy.

 

The Mayo Clinic researchers conclude that they have a new diet model that can predict unique responses to foods. This allows for greater flexibility in customizing a diet that fits the diabetic patient.

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