Would you like to eat fruit? That’s why you need to serve at least twice a day.

Fruits have a bad reputation as a nutritionally sufficient food. They are often perceived as having too much carbohydrate, too much sugar, and too many calories.

If your diet prevents you from eating fruit, or if you don’t want to, consider including two servings in your daily diet.

Doing so will help prevent type 2 diabetes, Australian researchers say. In addition to new research results, there is increasing evidence that fruits play a role in controlling blood sugar levels and reducing the risk of diabetes.

Latest survey results

The study included 7,675 men and women with an average age of 54 years recruited for an ongoing Australian diabetes, obesity, and lifestyle study.

Researchers evaluated participants’ overall fruit, individual fruit, and juice intakes and performed blood tests to measure insulin resistance. Participants were followed for up to 12 years to see if they had type 2 diabetes.

Insulin resistance occurs when cells in the body do not respond properly to the hypoglycemic hormone insulin. As a result, the pancreas needs to secrete more insulin in order for the cells to take up glucose.

People who ate at least two servings of fruit per day (rather than less than a day) had significantly better insulin sensitivity measurements, indicating less insulin production to lower blood sugar.

High levels of insulin circulating in the bloodstream can damage blood vessels, increasing the risk of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.

Participants with high fruit intake were 36% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes during a 5-year follow-up compared to participants who ate little or no fruit. Researchers considered risk factors such as obesity index, physical activity, family history of diabetes, and dietary factors.

Individual fruits and fruit juices were not associated with insulin resistance or diabetes risk measurements.

This study is observational in nature and cannot prove that eating whole fruit reduces the risk of diabetes. Nevertheless, the findings investigated fruit intake and the risk of diabetes. Consistent with previous large studies.

Protective properties of fruits

Fruits can prevent insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes in a variety of ways. Most fruits have a low glycemic load, slowing and slowing blood sugar elevations.

Certain types of fiber in fruit feeds have been shown to promote the growth of gut microbiota and participate in glucose metabolism.

Vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals can also contribute. For example, many types of fruits are an excellent source of flavonoids, a phytochemical that has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity.

The health benefits of eating whole fruits are not limited to type 2 diabetes. Eating more fruits is also associated with lower risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke, and certain cancers.

What about sugar?

Yes, fruits contain sugar, which is naturally occurring sugar and is packaged with fiber to help delay the release of natural sugar into the bloodstream. It is different from free sugars (eg added sugars, fruit juices) that cause a sharp rise in blood sugar.

The health risk of overdose of sugar is due to free sugar, not the natural sugar found throughout the fruit.

However, not everyone should eat a lot of fruit every day.

If you’re trying to lose weight, eating too much will increase the calories in your natural sugar. If you have pre-diabetes or diabetes, you should limit your fruit intake to control your blood sugar levels (but you don’t have to avoid it).

But many of us are willing to eat more fruit.

Add fruit to the summer menu

Now is the time to taste the taste and nutrition of seasonal local fruits. All summer fruits are good for you, but I have some favorites.

Strawberries in season now are an excellent source of vitamin C (98 mg per cup, daily) and brain-friendly anthocyanins. Raspberries are rich in anthocyanins as well as dietary fiber (8g per cup).

Melon is my standard summer melon. An excellent source of potassium (427 mg / cup), vitamin C (60 mg) and beta-carotene (3.2 mg). And next month, I will replace the dried apricots for snacks with raw apricots.

Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based private nutritionist, is the director of food and nutrition at Medcan. Follow her on Twitter @LeslieBeckRD

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