Muesli protects against type 2 diabetes

Larissa Melville completed her traineeship in the editorial team of . After studying biology at Ludwig Maximilians University and the Technical University of Munich, she first got to know digital media online at Focus and then decided to learn medical journalism from scratch.

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More and more people get diabetes. However, eating a high-fiber diet can reduce the risk. One type of dietary fiber is particularly suitable.

The number of type 2 diabetics is steadily increasing. In most cases, the disease is the result of various risk factors such as obesity and lack of exercise. And diet also plays an important role. Earlier studies had shown that fiber helps prevent type 2 diabetes. An international team of researchers led by Daugfinn Aune from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has now investigated which dietary fiber is most suitable and how much one should eat.

For their study, the scientists analyzed the data from almost 11,500 type 2 diabetes cases and, in comparison, the information from around 15,300 people without diabetes. The researchers divided the subjects into four groups who ate different amounts of fiber and checked who developed diabetes and who did not. The average observation time was eleven years.

More fiber, less often diabetes

The result: the participants who had consumed the most fiber (more than 26 grams per day) had an 18 percent lower risk of diabetes type compared to those who had eaten less than 19 grams per day 2 on.

However, it was not just the amount of fiber that was decisive, but also the type: The consumption of fruit did not protect the participants from diabetes to a high degree. Those who ate a lot of vegetables, on the other hand, reduced their likelihood of type 2 diabetes by 16 percent and those who ate a lot of whole grain products by as much as 19 percent - compared to those who had very little fiber of this type on the menu.

The more the better

These results were supported by another analysis, for which the researchers examined a total of 18 studies with over 41,000 type 2 diabetes cases. The analysis of the data showed that the daily amount of fiber decreased the risk of diabetes: Ten grams more fiber per day reduced the risk by nine percent. But this value could be increased significantly with the right dietary fiber: because those who ate ten grams more muesli or other whole grain products a day even had a 25 percent lower risk.

When evaluating their own study, the researchers excluded all other lifestyle and dietary factors from the data. If you included the body mass index (BMI), however, the results changed: There was no connection to a lower risk of diabetes in either the amount or type of dietary fiber. Accordingly, weight also plays an important role in the development of type 2 diabetes.

Changed mechanisms

“The results suggest that people who eat a high-fiber diet and especially eat a lot of whole grain products are less likely to get type 2 diabetes. We don't know exactly why that is, ”says Aune. The longer-lasting feeling of satiety, the longer release of hormonal signals, the slowed absorption of nutrients or the altered fermentation in the large intestine could play a role. These mechanisms may reduce the BMI and also the risk of type 2 diabetes, adds the expert.

"But fiber not only helps keep weight down, it also has a direct effect on the risk of diabetes, for example through better control of blood sugar, decreasing insulin peaks after meals and the body's increased sensitivity to insulin," emphasizes the Researcher.

One speaks of type 2 diabetes when the body's cells react less and less to insulin. This means that those affected need more insulin than healthy people in order to be able to absorb the glucose from the blood. The insulin-producing cells of the pancreas therefore initially release more insulin. But over time, insulin production decreases more and more because the cells are exhausted.

Sources:

Press release from the University of Cambridge dated May 27, 2015

The InterAct Consortium: Dietary fiber and incidence of type 2 diabetes in eight European countries: the EPIC-InterAct Study and a meta-analysis of prospective studies. Diabetologia. DOI 10.1007 / s00125-015-3585-9

Tags:  anatomy digital health prevention