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High GI carbs increase women’s heart risk ‘A high consumption of carbohydrates from high GI foods, rather than the overall quantity of carbohydrates consumed, appears to influence the risk of developing coronary heart disease in women’ according to a large prospective study (the EPICOR study) published in Archives of Internal Medicine. Dr Sabina Sieri Fondazione …

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Dairy foods and weight Although the jury is still out, the bulk of the evidence suggests that dairy foods play a beneficial role in weight management according to Dr Marta Van Loan who has reviewed some of the most recent scientific evidence in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. Her umbrella review covers …

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More fat loss bang for your exercise buck with a low GI breakfast ‘If you are trying to shed fat, you may consider eating low GI foods before you exercise,’ suggests Dr Emma Stevenson. Her study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that a low GI breakfast before exercising could help with weight loss …

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Bread: This for that #1 The simple change from regular white bread to a low GI bread could reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes according to Australian researchers from the Cancer Council of Victoria. The study published in Diabetes Care looked at the diets and health records of more than 36,000 men and women …

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Cochrane Review finds low GI diets more effective Not only is it hard to lose weight, there’s not a lot of consensus about the best way to do it other than ‘eat less and exercise more’. But that piece of advice on its own doesn’t seem to be able to deliver the necessary results for …

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Chinese herbs show promise for diabetes prevention A recent Cochrane review examined 16 randomised controlled trials of 15 different Chinese herbal medicines traditionally used for blood glucose control. ‘Chinese herbal medicines have been used for this purpose for a long time, so there is plenty of anecdotal evidence for their safety and effectiveness, but we …

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Mediterranean diet and managing diabetes Consuming a Mediterranean style diet is more effective for diabetes management than a low-fat diet, reports a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. ‘Participants assigned to the Mediterranean-style diet lost more weight and experienced greater improvements in some glycemic control and coronary risk measures than did those assigned …

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Does organic food have more nutrients? Glenn Cardwell comments on a UK study. A report published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition came to the conclusion that organically grown produce and livestock had a similar nutrient offering to conventionally grown food. The reviewers trawled all the research for the past 50 years and found …

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Fasting safely with diabetes Most people with type 2 diabetes whose diabetes was well-controlled before Ramadan can safely observe Ramadan fasting is the finding of recent study. UK dietitian Azmina Govindji agrees. ‘It is possible to fast safely if you are careful about managing your diabetes,’ she says. ‘The reason why you need to take …

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Artificial sweeteners linked to diabetes People who use artificial sweeteners are heavier, more likely to have diabetes, and more likely to be insulin-resistant compared with non-users, according to data presented at ENDO 2009 (the annual meeting of The Endocrine Society) and reported in Medscape Medical News. The researchers reported they found an inverse association between …