Type 2 diabetes: fiber lowers blood sugar

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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Muesli, whole grains, brown rice: a diet rich in fiber can significantly improve the blood sugar levels of type 2 diabetics. One reason for this is apparently intestinal bacteria with a particular appetite for fiber.

Whole grain products have long been recommended to type 2 diabetics. Unlike white flour products, for example, these are digested more slowly and therefore do not suddenly increase blood sugar levels.

Yet another circumstance could make a high-fiber diet particularly useful for diabetics. "Dietary fiber targets a group of intestinal bacteria that could play a central role in the therapy of diabetes in the future," says study leader Liping Zhao from Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Feed the right intestinal bacteria

Dietary fiber is made up of carbohydrates. They are initially indigestible for humans. However, various intestinal bacteria manage to break them down. Among other things, short-chain fatty acids are formed, which have a positive effect on health. They strengthen the cell layer that lines the inner intestinal wall and, among other things, prevent pathogens from passing through the digestive tract into the blood. The fatty acids also have a general anti-inflammatory effect.

Short-chain fatty acids slow down inflammation

The latter makes them particularly interesting for people with type 2 diabetes or its precursors. Because among other things, it is silent inflammatory processes that cause this form of diabetes to break out. In fact, it has been found earlier that the intestines of type 2 diabetics often have comparatively few intestinal bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids.

Zhao and his colleagues have either given patients with type 2 diabetes the usual dietary recommendations or put them on a special high-fiber diet. In addition to whole grain products, it also contained special high-fiber foods that are used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In addition, the patients in the diet group received so-called prebiotics. These drugs encourage the colonization of healthy intestinal bacteria.

Lower blood sugar, lower weight

After twelve weeks, the high-fiber diet had made a difference: the HBA1C value of the diet subjects, for example, was significantly lower than that of the control group. This value allows conclusions to be drawn about the average blood sugar level over a longer period of time. In addition, their empty blood sugar levels were lower and they had lost more weight.

A slightly acidic environment strengthens desirable bacteria

A closer examination of the intestinal flora showed the following: Of the 141 strains of bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids, 15 strains that are particularly beneficial to health had prevailed. They produce acetic acid and butyric acid, two fatty acids that slightly increase acid levels in the intestines. The slightly acidic environment created in this way, in turn, pushes back less health-promoting microbes. It also causes higher insulin production and thus better blood sugar control.

Diabetes is creeping up

90 percent of type 2 diabetics are overweight. In fact, fatty tissue, especially that in the abdomen, releases certain messenger substances. They promote the development of inflammation and thus also of diabetes. Even before the disease shows up, many overweight people have unnoticed for years an impaired glucose metabolism. Doctors refer to this stage as prediabetes.

Depleted insulin production

If someone continuously eats a lot, the body also has to move a lot of glucose from the blood into the body's cells. This requires a lot of insulin, which acts as a sugar shaker. At some point, however, the cells respond less and less well to the hormone. The insulin-producing beta cells can compensate for this for a long time by producing more and more insulin. In the end, however, they become visibly exhausted - then the blood sugar derails.

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