People at risk for diabetes are often advised to concentrate on whole grains, vegetables and other types of minimally processed foods that don’t make blood sugar rise quickly.
A new study from Harvard suggests, however, that focusing the diet on foods with a low glycemic index–the technical term for foods that don’t produce a rapid rise in blood sugar–doesn’t matter for insulin sensitivity, blood pressure or cholesterol levels.
In the study, 163 overweight people with borderline high blood pressure were divided into 4 groups who were provided specific diets for 5 weeks. All the meals were provided to them based on a DASH diet plan with lots of vegetables and low-fat dairy.
Some participants got a high-carb, high-glycemic index diet, while others got a low-carb, low-glycemic index diet. The other two groups got different combinations-a high-carb, low-glycemic index diet and a low-carb, high-glycemic index diet. The maximum difference was between high-carb high-glycemic index and low-carb low-glycemic index.
There were no significant benefits for blood pressure, blood fat levels or insulin sensitivity among any of the groups. Perhaps this is because the DASH diet is already effective at lowering blood pressure, so further tweaking wasn’t enough to change the body’s responses noticeably.
You can learn more about the DASH diet, low-carb diet and Mediterranean diet in our book, The People’s Pharmacy Quick & Handy Home Remedies.
