It may seem obvious that eating a heap of ‘junk’ or heavily processed foods over the whole, fresh stuff isn’t good for health. But, the big issue isn’t necessarily too much junk food, but a daily diet of foods like white rice, bread, pasta, and other refined-flour foods.
The foods individuals choose to eat daily can make a big difference, whether they are living with diabetes or not. In a study, for instance, researchers found that the more servings of white rice a person eats per day, the greater their risk for developing type 2 diabetes, the form of diabetes most closely linked to obesity.
Those who ate the highest amounts of white rice had a 27 per cent higher risk of diabetes than those who ate the least, and the risk was most pronounced in Asian people. Each additional daily serving of white rice may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes by 10 per cent.
The study which appeared in the journal British Medical Journal (BMJ) analysed the results of four previous studies involving 352,384 participants from four countries: China, Japan, U.S. and Australia.
The studies followed people for four to 22 years, tracking their food intake. All the participants were diabetes-free at the beginning of the study.
Why white rice may impact diabetes risk is not clear, but white rice has a high glycaemic index (GI), a measurement of how foods affect blood sugar levels. High GI ranking foods have previously been associated with an increased risk of diabetes.
So, if rice is taken over a long period of time and in high amounts, it can settle down in the body and give rise to excessive fat, said Adesoji Fasanmade, a Professor of Physiology and Medicine at the University of Ibadan.
According to him, “this excessive fat actually increases the insulin resistance of the body, but it gets to a point that the insulin production is reduced because of the exertion of the pancreas to produce insulin. Because of this exertion, the individual goes to have what is called diabetes type 2.”
Professor Fasanmade, an endocrinologist, said increased intake of rice in Nigeria as well as a change in lifestyle and lack of exercises, may be contributory to the explosion in the population of people having diabetes in Nigeria.
“You find that in every home now, it is rice and rice they eat all the time. That is one thing that we have not looked closely into and this could possibly the cause of a lot of diabetes in our environment,” he added.
Still, he said brown rice or unprocessed rice is a better alternative to white rice since its higher fibre and nutrient content can help to lower the risk of developing diabetes.
Because of a different degree of processing and nutrient contents, brown rice and white rice have different effects on risk of having type 2 diabetes.
It’s not just white rice, either. Other white, starchy carbohydrates, such as white bread, white pasta, and white potatoes, will likely have the same effect if eaten often enough.
Can it be said that rice, pasta or even soft drinks cause diabetes? According to Professor Fasanmade, “we would not say that rice or soft drink will cause diabetes per se, but it can predispose someone who already has the tendency probably as a result of genetic makeup or familiar makeup to have diabetes.
“If that individual now eats a lot of rice or takes a lot of soft drinks, the individual may have diabetes. It will increase the chances of that individual having diabetes. But we must also note that two individuals are not the same; what may cause diabetes in one person may not necessarily predispose another person to diabetes.”
Moreover, Mrs Grace Adekoya, an assistant director of Nursing, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, added, “If I eat a big bowl of rice, beans, akpu (fufu), and I have a risk of diabetes, the effect is still the same. What is important is moderation in what you eat and ensure such is combined with a lot of vegetables. Also, people should eat local meals.”
Diet has a lot of roles to play in chances of coming down with diabetes. Eating bread, bagels and other refined-flour foods have been shown to significantly increase blood sugar levels in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Unfortunately, many people are not aware that whatever food is eaten is broken down in the body into sugar, which enters the blood.
According to Dr Joko Adeleye, also a consultant endocrinologist, as blood sugar levels rise, the pancreas produces insulin, a hormone that prompts cells to absorb blood sugar for energy or storage. As cells absorb blood sugar, its levels in the bloodstream begin to fall.
When this happens, the pancreas starts making glucagon, a hormone that signals the liver to start releasing stored sugar. This interplay of insulin and glucagon ensure that cells throughout the body, and especially in the brain, have a steady supply of blood sugar.
Carbohydrate metabolism is important in the development of type 2 diabetes, which occurs when the body can’t make enough insulin or can’t properly use the insulin it makes.
However, type 2 diabetes, Dr Adeleye said, usually develops gradually over a number of years, starting from when muscle and other cells stop responding to insulin.
This condition, known as insulin resistance, causes blood sugar and insulin levels to stay high long after eating. With time, the heavy demands made on the insulin-making cells wears them out, and insulin production eventually stops.
Mrs Adekoya, however advise that anyone at risk for diabetes should focus on reducing the number of calories they eat, losing weight (if they are overweight or obese), and replacing processed foods with whole grain foods, increasing intake of vegetables and fruits as well as making physical activity a priority.
For a healthier diet, “on your plate, about half of the space should be covered with vegetables when eating,” she stated.