New research from St. Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto demonstrate that eating nuts every day will help control Type 2 diabetes and complications.

The research was published in the journal, Diabetes Care and showed that consuming two ounces of nuts daily as a replacement for carbohydrates (pasta, bread, rice, cereals, etc) proved effective at blood sugar control and serum lipid (cholesterol) control for people suffering Type 2 diabetes.

In the study the researchers used mixed, unsalted, raw, or dry-roasted nuts which all had benefits for controlling blood sugar and lipids and can be part of a strategy to improve diabetes without weight gain.

The researchers gave three different dietary interventions to subjects with Type 2 diabetes. One group was given a mixture of nuts, including raw almonds, pistachios, walnuts, pecans, peanuts, cashews, hazelnuts and macadamias, and one group was given a mixture of muffins and nuts, while one group was just given muffins.

The participants given only the nuts reported the greatest improvement in blood glucose control using the glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) test. The nut only participants also experienced a decrease in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (known as LDL, or “bad cholesterol”). Participants given the muffin supplement or mixed muffin-and-nut supplement experienced no significant improvement in gylcemic control. However, those receiving the muffin-nut mixture also drastically lowered their LDL cholesterol levels.

The study shows that nuts are a good option for people with Type 2 diabetes wishing to gain better control.

Source: ScienceDaily July 2011

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