Finance
Consuming almonds before meals may help lower your risk of developing diabetes. Two new research studies have found that eating almonds helps Indians with prediabetes and obesity control their blood sugar levels.
These two new almond-containing studies, one long-term lasting three months and the other short-term lasting three days, could offer a game-changing treatment.
A handful of almonds (20 g) was consumed 30 minutes before breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For the duration of the study, the participants avoided all nuts.
Dr. Anoop Misra and Dr. Seema Gulati conducted the research, which was funded by the California Almond Board.
Both studies were randomized controlled trials in which the researchers hypothesized that the almond snack before major meals, known as “preloading,” would reduce glucose and insulin fluctuations after meals and reduce overall hyperglycemia compared to the control diet.
“Results from our studies indicate almonds might be a key differentiator in helping regulate blood glucose levels as part of a dietary strategy. These results showcase that the simple addition of a small portion of almonds before each meal can quickly and drastically improve glycemic control in Asian Indians in India with prediabetes in just three days,” said lead author Dr Anoop Misra, Professor and Chairman, Fortis-C-DOC Centre of Excellence for Diabetes, Metabolic Diseases, and Endocrinology, New Delhi.
Dr. Misra went on to say that eating 20 g of almonds 30 minutes before an oral glucose load resulted in a significant drop in blood sugar and hormone levels. Almonds’ nutritional profile, which includes fibre, monounsaturated fats, zinc, and magnesium, works together to improve glycemic control and reduce hunger.
Fasting glucose, postprandial insulin, hemoglobin A1c, proinsulin, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and very low-density lipoprotein were all reduced in the long-term study.
“Almonds may slow stomach emptying, which could help people ingest less food and fewer calories to promote weight management, which is important in helping reverse the course of prediabetes back to normal blood sugar regulation,” said Dr Misra.
Source:IT
