About all

Daily sugar intake for a diabetic: Sugar & diabetes – Diabetes Canada

Содержание

Grams of Sugar Permitted in a Diabetic Diet

High angle view of sugarcubes in a bowl with a white teapot.

Image Credit: George Doyle/Stockbyte/Getty Images

So you’ve just been diagnosed with diabetes, and you’re told to watch your sugar intake by your doctor. It is a common misconception that sugar alone will raise your blood sugar and lead to the development or worsening of diabetes. In reality, all carbohydrates will raise your blood sugar, but all carbohydrates, including sugar, are permitted in a diabetic diet.

Carbohydrates Count

The preferred energy source for your brain and muscles is sugar. Sugar is a form of carbohydrate that includes more than just the white, sandy granules you pour into your morning coffee. All carbohydrates are broken down into sugar when they are digested, and they contribute to the overall concentration of sugar in your blood. Therefore, it is more important to monitor the total number of grams of carbohydrates you consume rather than sugar alone. When looking at “Nutrition Facts” labels, notice that both sugar and fiber are listed indented underneath the boldfaced word “Carbohydrates.” This is because both sugar and fiber are types of carbohydrates and are already included in the total.

Added Sugar Vs. Natural Sugar

The type of carbohydrate that is easily broken down and digested by your body is referred to as sugar. Some sugar occurs naturally in foods, while other sugar is added to foods to give them a sweeter taste. Foods with naturally occurring sugar include milk, fruit and starchy vegetables like winter squash, peas, corn and potatoes. Although these foods provide sugar, they also provide essential vitamins, minerals and fiber. The sugar they contain is not added. Identify foods with added sugar by examining the nutrition facts label. Added sugars are listed with the ingredients under names like sucrose, corn syrup and raw sugar. Although all sugar contributes to a rise in blood sugar and must be considered in your total carbohydrate intake, it is better to consume foods with no added sugar for maximum health benefits.

Added Sugar Recommendations

It is wise to keep your intake of added sugar to a minimum. Added sugar contributes extra calories to your diet with no nutritional benefit. The major sources of added sugar in Americans’ diets are sweetened beverages, grain-based desserts, dairy-based desserts and candy. The average American consuming 2,000 calories per day ingests 79 grams of added sugar per day — equaling 316 calories and 15.8 percent of total calorie intake. The American Heart Association recommends that women consume fewer than 100 calories, or 25 grams, of added sugars per day and that men consume fewer than 150 calories, or 37.5 grams, of added sugars per day.

Recommended Total Carbohydrates

Your body needs a minimum of 130 grams of carbohydrate per day for survival. According to the Institute of Medicine, the acceptable amount of carbohydrate for you to consume is 45 percent to 65 percent of your total calorie intake. The standard recommendation for carbohydrate intake for adult women with diabetes is 45 to 60 grams of total carbohydrates per meal, and for adult men with diabetes 60 to 75 grams of total carbohydrates per meal. At snacks, aim for 15 to 30 grams of total carbohydrates. Each person’s individual carbohydrate needs will vary based on body size, activity levels and age. Speak with your doctor, diabetes educator or registered dietitian for more personalized recommendations.

Does Eating too Much Sugar Cause Diabetes?

Chances are you have a family member, close friend, or colleague who has diabetes. (That person might even be you.) This chronic and serious health condition affects about one in ten people, and that number rises with age—half of all adults in the United States have diabetes or prediabetes, reports the American Diabetes Association.

We are mostly talking about type 2 diabetes here because it’s, by far, the most common form of the disease, accounting for about 90 to 95 percent of all cases. (Type 1 diabetes and gestational diabetes are the other main types.)

What all types of diabetes have in common is that people have blood glucose—blood sugar—that is too high. Does that mean that eating sugar causes diabetes? The answer for type 1 diabetes is always no—this comparatively rare type of diabetes is an autoimmune condition that is unrelated to lifestyle factors like food intake or exercise.

For type 2 diabetes it’s a bit more complicated.  If you already have a genetic risk and you have a consistently unhealthy eating pattern, excess weight, and a sedentary lifestyle, you are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes earlier—say in your 20s, 30s, or 40s—rather than later in life, in your 50s, 60s, or 70s. So how does sugar fit in?

To understand the role that eating sugar plays in type 2 diabetes, it helps to take a quick look at how sugar in the blood, or blood glucose, can end up too high.

Blood sugar is most heavily influenced by carbohydrates, which are found in everything from fruits and potatoes to bread, sweets, and soda. During digestion, carbs are broken down into glucose and released into your bloodstream. That’s a good thing: glucose is our body’s main source of energy. Your body cells must have the energy to function, but that same glucose can be toxic at high levels in your blood.

In fact, it’s so dangerous that uncontrolled blood sugar can harm vision, cause nerve damage, and lead to heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and all kinds of problems. That’s why your body has an exquisitely calibrated system for keeping glucose at safe levels.

To function as an energy-maker, glucose needs to leave the blood and get inside your body’s cells, says Diana Licalzi, a Boston-based registered dietitian nutritionist. This is where insulin comes in. Produced by the pancreas, insulin acts like a key, unlocking the cell to allow glucose to get inside.

Licalzi explains the process: “You eat an apple, the apple turns into glucose, the pancreas releases insulin, the insulin opens the doors to the cell, the glucose enters and energy is produced for use right away with the leftovers stored for use later.”

With type 2 diabetes, the cell’s ability to respond to insulin is impaired and sugar lingers in the bloodstream instead of being efficiently dispatched to the cells. (This is known as insulin resistance.)

Insulin resistance can be caused by many things, including excess weight, unhealthy eating patterns, a lack of exercise, and certain medications.

Being overweight increases your risk 

There’s no one cause of type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, according to the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Genes and family history can play a role, and there isn’t much you can do about that. But when it comes to the factors you can control, maintaining a healthy weight is on the top of the list in preventing the disease, delaying its onset, or slowing its progression.

“Carrying excess weight, especially around the abdomen, increases your risk of type 2 diabetes, as well as of other diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease, and even stroke,” says Licalzi.

A 2015 study published in the International Journal of Preventative Medicine suggests waist measurement can be as equally important as body mass index (BMI)—a ratio of weight and height—when it comes to predicting a person’s disease risk, especially in type 2 diabetes.

Men should aim for a waist circumference of 40 inches or less and women should aim for 35 inches or less, according to the American Heart Association. Those who are lower weight, but have a large waist circumference—meaning, more belly fat—are also at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Healthy eating is about more than just sugar

Sugar is not the only culprit contributing to the rise of type 2 diabetes in the U.S. “The overall quality of the standard American diet is responsible for the development of diabetes type 2 or prediabetes,” says UCLA dietitian Dana Hunnes. “The typical diet is high in processed carbohydrates, fat, animal proteins, and salt, and low in fiber, water, fruits, and vegetables.” That high caloric tally promotes weight gain. Meanwhile, all those simple carbs—in things like French fries, chips, sugar-sweetened beverages, pasta, and bread made from white flour— lead to a fast rise in blood sugar. When that happens, your body struggles to churn out more and more insulin—which fails to lower blood glucose because the cells are ignoring it.

Over time, those spikes tend to wear out your insulin-producing cells altogether and the body stops making insulin. If you have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, that means that each time you eat, blood sugar just keeps climbing higher and higher unless you control it with diet, exercise, and medication.

Sugar gets an F in nutrition

A sugary treat once in a while is not a problem. But too much over too long a period of time increases the risk of weight gain and puts stress on your insulin-producing cells. “Calories from sugar are what we call empty calories,” says Licalzi. “They have little or no nutritional value.” And since sugar calories do little to satisfy hunger, it’s easy to devour large amounts and start putting on extra pounds.

The average American consumes 17 teaspoons of sugar a day. That’s more than three times the 6 teaspoons, or 25 grams, that’s recommended for women and nearly twice the 9 teaspoons (36 grams) recommended for men by the American Heart Association. Consider that a single 12-ounce serving of soda has about 40 grams of added sugar, and you get a sense of how easy it is to consume health-endangering levels of sugar.

Looked at another way, Jo Mandelson, RDN, a nutritionist with the American Diabetes Association, points out that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, including those with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, suggest limiting added sugar in food and beverages to 10 percent of calories per day. That works out to about 160 to 300 calories, depending on sex, age, height, and activity level.

Try to cut back on hidden sugar

We all know that chocolate-covered donuts, three scoops of ice cream drowned in caramel sauce, and a thick slab of strawberry shortcake are sugar bombs. But sugar can also be hidden, in salad dressing and ketchup, tomato sauce, cereal or granola, flavored yogurt, and bread. Unlike sugars that naturally occur in foods like fruit, these “added sugars” are put in foods during production.

Dana Hunnes, a senior dietitian at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, recommends becoming a savvy sugar sleuth. “I always suggest,” she says, “that you scan labels for ingredients such as monosaccharides, disaccharides, sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, agave nectar, molasses, cane juice, cane sugar, date sugar, and evaporated cane juice. Any of these could be added sugars.” The Food and Drug Administration’s new food label requirements make it a cinch to find how much sugar has been added during processing: Just look for the line that says “added sugars.”

Fiber helps fight type 2 diabetes

From brown rice to black beans, whole-grain cereal, fruits, vegetables, and popcorn, fiber is a powerful ally in the fight against type 2 diabetes. “Fiber-rich foods are digested more slowly,” says Licalzi, “so your blood sugar doesn’t spike and you stay fuller longer.” A 2019 review in The Lancet that included nearly 250 studies found that people who ate the highest amount of fiber had a 16% to 24% lower risk of dying from type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and colon cancer, compared with people who ate very little fiber.

However, Americans are not getting enough fiber in their diet. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends 25 grams a day for women and 38 grams a day for men, up to the age of 50. After 50, women should aim for 21 daily grams and men, 30 grams. The average American only eats an average of 10 to 15 grams of fiber a day.

Eating more plants can help

Choosing foods that help control blood sugar and prevent type 2 diabetes doesn’t have to be confusing. Simply ask yourself this question when choosing ingredients: Did it grow in the ground or on a tree, vine, or bush? If the answer is yes, you’re on the right track.

A 2019 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that people who followed a predominantly plant-based diet with a mix of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and legumes had a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and those that eliminated less healthy foods such as white flour and sugar saw the greatest benefit. Hunnes says that, for some people, moving to a “primarily whole-foods, plant-based diet” might be as helpful as drugs in reducing the risk of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.

Another powerful ally: Exercise

Don’t let perfection be the enemy of better when it comes to taking steps to lower your type 2 diabetes risk. Small changes can make a big difference when it comes to lowering your risk.

Just ask Zaira Ortega, MD, a family medicine physician in East Los Angeles, a community where type 2 diabetes is a pressing health concern. “When patients have a family history of diabetes or prediabetes,” she says, “we tell them that they have the power to change the course of their future health.”

Among her simple tips: Switch from drinking juice to eating whole fruit. Instead of eating five tortillas for dinner, cut back to two. Swap white rice for fiber-rich quinoa. And while, Dr. Ortega says, “80 percent of weight loss takes place in the kitchen,” exercise plays an important role, too. She tells her patients to aim for 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise, five days a week.

In fact, exercise is as powerful as some diabetes medications when it comes to lowering blood sugar. It boosts insulin sensitivity and encourages body cells to absorb blood glucose. While it’s not always easy to find the time or motivation to exercise, you might want to invite a friend to join you for a brisk walk to help maintain your blood sugar levels and body weight. Both the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Diabetes Association recommend going on a 30-minute walk at least five days per week.

So does sugar cause type 2 diabetes? No, but it doesn’t help. Your best bet is to limit added sugar, increase your fiber, fuel your body with healthy carbohydrates, and get some exercise to keep your blood sugar in the safe zone.

Read the article here: Does Eating too Much Sugar Cause Diabetes?

How much sugar is too much?

As modern grocery shoppers, we try to be engaged and knowledgeable about nutrition. From salt to sugar, the movement is on to regain control of what we put on the table. But there’s a lot of confusing information to wade through. Studies show that 80% of shoppers come across conflicting nutritional data and 59% doubt the choices they’re making for their families. What consumers aren’t confused about, though, is the need for a healthy change.

American adults consume an average of 77 grams of sugar per day, more than 3 times the recommended amount for women. This adds up to around 60 pounds of added sugar annually – that’s six, 10-pound bowling balls, folks! The numbers are even worse for children. American kids consume 81 grams per day, equaling over 65 pounds of added sugar per year. Think of it this way – children are ingesting over 30 gallons of added sugars from beverages alone. That’s enough to fill a bathtub! Where’s all this added sugar coming from?

Beverages are the leading category source of added sugars (47% of all added sugars):

  • soft drinks – 25%
  • fruit drinks – 11%
  • sport/energy drinks – 3%
  • coffee/tea – 7%

And, as you might guess, snacks and sweets are the next biggest contributor of added sugars at 31%.

How does the body react to so much sugar?

So, what’s a smart shopper to do? It’s tempting to look to alternative sugars as a magical solution. Products made with honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar or turbinado sugar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, and dextrose, for example, are perceived as healthier choices. Don’t be fooled.  Your body sure isn’t! Too much sugar is too much, no matter the source.

It all comes down to how fast the sugars get absorbed. For example, your body spends more time digesting an apple because of the fiber content, so the natural sugar absorbs more slowly. On the flip side, the added sugar in soda arrives all at once in your system like a sugar bomb. All that extra sugar gets converted to calories much more quickly. Not so good for your system!

If you’re looking for no calories, your best option might be a plant-based sweetener like stevia or monk fruit. These sweeteners are “generally recognized as safe” based on published research, a conclusion which has been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

AHA Sugar Recommendation

To keep all of this in perspective, it’s helpful to remember the American Heart Association’s recommendations for sugar intake.

  • Men should consume no more than 9 teaspoons (36 grams or 150 calories) of added sugar per day.
  • For women, the number is lower: 6 teaspoons (25 grams or 100 calories) per day. Consider that one 12-ounce can of soda contains 8 teaspoons (32 grams) of added sugar!  There goes your whole day’s allotment in one slurp.

The good news is that the added-sugar message is breaking through, and many American adults crave a change. In fact, research suggests that 77 percent of Americans are striving for less sugar in their diets. And 7 in 10 consumers are willing to give up a favorite sugary product in favor of finding a healthier alternative. The willingness is there. For now, your best defense is education.

Food manufacturers are required to list the amount of added sugars on the Nutrition Facts label by mid 2021 or earlier depending on the size of the company.   A recent analysis found that this labeling could potentially prevent nearly 1 million cases of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes over the next two decades.  Listing the total amount of added sugars means that consumers will no longer have to search through the many different aliases for added sugars to try and determine how much added sugar a food or drink contains.

So, read those labels carefully and realize that added sugar is added sugar, no matter what sneaky alias it’s using! 

Sugar: the facts – NHS

Credit:

Eating too much sugar can make you gain weight and can also cause tooth decay.

The type of sugars most adults and children in the UK eat too much of are “free sugars”. 

These are:

  • Any sugars added to food or drinks. These include sugars in biscuits, chocolate, flavoured yoghurts, breakfast cereals and fizzy drinks. These sugars may be added at home, or by a chef or other food manufacturer.
  • Sugars in honey, syrups (such as maple, agave and golden), nectars (such as blossom), and unsweetened fruit juices, vegetable juices and smoothies. The sugars in these foods occur naturally but still count as free sugars.

Sugar found naturally in milk, fruit and vegetables does not count as free sugars.

We do not need to cut down on these sugars, but remember that they are included in the “total sugar” figure found on food labels.

How much sugar can we eat?

The government recommends that free sugars – sugars added to food or drinks, and sugars found naturally in honey, syrups, and unsweetened fruit and vegetable juices, smoothies and purées – should not make up more than 5% of the energy (calories) you get from food and drink each day.

This means:

  • Adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day, (roughly equivalent to 7 sugar cubes).
  • Children aged 7 to 10 should have no more than 24g of free sugars a day (6 sugar cubes).
  • Children aged 4 to 6 should have no more than 19g of free sugars a day (5 sugar cubes).
  • There’s no guideline limit for children under the age of 4, but it’s recommended they avoid sugar-sweetened drinks and food with sugar added to it. Find out more about what to feed young children.

Free sugars are found in foods such as sweets, cakes, biscuits, chocolate, and some fizzy drinks and juice drinks. These are the sugary foods we should cut down on.

For example, a can of cola can have as much as 9 cubes of sugar – more than the recommended daily limit for adults.

Find out what the top sources of free sugars are.

Sugars also occur naturally in foods such as fruit, vegetables and milk, but we do not need to cut down on these types of sugars.

Be aware that these are included along with free sugars in the “total sugars” figure that you’ll see on food labels.

Find out more about nutrition labels and sugar for help on how to tell the difference.

Tips to cut down on sugars

For a healthy, balanced diet, cut down on food and drinks containing free sugars.

These tips can help you to cut down:

Reducing sugar in drinks

  • Instead of sugary fizzy drinks or sugary squash, go for water, lower-fat milk, or sugar-free, diet or no-added-sugar drinks. While the amount of sugar in whole and lower-fat milk is the same, choosing lower-fat milk reduces your saturated fat intake.
  • Even unsweetened fruit juices and smoothies are sugary, so limit the amount you have to no more than 150ml a day.
  • If you prefer fizzy drinks, try diluting no-added-sugar squash with sparkling water.
  • If you take sugar in hot drinks or add sugar to your breakfast cereal, gradually reduce the amount until you can cut it out altogether. Alternatively, switch to a sweetener.

The NHS Change4Life website has more tips to help you cut back on sugary drinks.

Reducing sugar in food

  • Rather than spreading high-sugar jam, marmalade, syrup, chocolate spread or honey on your toast, try a lower-fat spread, reduced-sugar jam or fruit spread, sliced banana or lower-fat cream cheese instead.
  • Check nutrition labels to help you pick the foods with less added sugar, or go for the reduced- or lower-sugar version.
  • Try reducing the sugar you use in your recipes. It works for most things except jam, meringues and ice cream.
  • Choose tins of fruit in juice rather than syrup.
  • Choose unsweetened wholegrain breakfast cereals that are not frosted, or coated with chocolate or honey.
  • Choose unsweetened cereal and try adding some fruit for sweetness, which will contribute to your 5 A Day. Sliced bananas, dried fruit and berries are all good options.

The Food Scanner app from Change4Life can help you check how much sugar you or your child is having. Using your smartphone, the app can scan the barcode on food packets to find out exactly how much sugar is in it. Get it on the App Store and Google Play.

Find more ways of cutting sugar out of your diet.

Nutrition labels and sugars

Look at information on nutrition labels and ingredients lists to help reduce your intake of free sugars.

Nutrition information can be presented in different ways, including on the front and the back of packs.

Labels on the back of packaging

It’s important to look for the “of which sugars” figure on nutrition labels, which is part of the carbohydrate information.

While this does not tell you the amount of free sugars, it’s a useful way of comparing labels and can help you choose foods that are lower in sugar overall.

Look for the “Carbohydrates of which sugars” figure on the nutrition label.

Products are considered to either be high or low in sugar if they fall above or below the following thresholds:

  • high: more than 22.5g of total sugars per 100g
  • low: 5g or less of total sugars per 100g

If the amount of sugars per 100g is between these figures, that’s regarded as a medium level.

The “of which sugars” figure describes the total amount of sugars from all sources – free sugars, plus those from milk, and those present in fruit and vegetables.

For example, plain yoghurt may contain as much as 8g per serving, but none of these are free sugars, as they all come from milk.

The same applies to an individual portion of fruit. An apple might contain around 11g of total sugar, depending on the size of the fruit selected, the variety and the stage of ripeness.

But sugar in fruit is not considered free sugars unless the fruit is juiced or puréed.

This means food containing fruit or milk will be a healthier choice than one containing lots of free sugars, even if the 2 products contain the same total amount of sugar.

You can tell if the food contains lots of added sugars by checking the ingredients list.

Sometimes you’ll see a figure just for “Carbohydrate” and not for “Carbohydrate (of which sugars)”.

The “Carbohydrate” figure will also include starchy carbohydrates, so you cannot use it to work out the sugar content.

In this instance, check the ingredients list to see if the food is high in added sugar.

Ingredients list

You can get an idea of whether a food is high in free sugars by looking at the ingredients list on the packaging.

Sugars added to foods and drinks must be included in the ingredients list, which always starts with the ingredient that there’s the most of.

This means that if you see sugar near the top of the list, the food is likely to be high in free sugars.

Watch out for other words used to describe the sugars added to food and drinks, such as cane sugar, honey, brown sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate/purées, corn syrup, fructose, sucrose, glucose, crystalline sucrose, nectars (such as blossom), maple and agave syrups, dextrose, maltose, molasses and treacle.

For more information on food labels, such as “no added sugar”, see Food labelling terms.

Labels on the front of packaging

There are labels containing nutrition information on the front of some food packaging.

This includes labels that use red, amber and green colour coding, and advice on reference intakes (RIs) of some nutrients, which can include sugar.

Labels that include colour coding allow you to see at a glance if the food has a high, medium or low amount of sugars:

  • red = high (more than 22.5g of sugar per 100g or more than 27g per portion)
  • amber = medium (more than 5g but less than or equal to 22.5g of sugar per 100g)
  • green = low (less than or equal to 5g of sugar per 100g)

Some labels on the front of packaging will display the amount of sugar in the food as a percentage of the RI. 

RIs are guidelines for the approximate amount of particular nutrients and energy required in a day for a healthy diet.

The reference intake for total sugars is 90g a day, which includes 30g of “free sugars”.

For more information, see Food labels.

Your weight and sugar

Eating too much sugar can contribute to people having too many calories, which can lead to weight gain.

Being overweight increases your risk of health problems such as heart disease, some cancers and type 2 diabetes.

For a healthy, balanced diet, we should get most of our calories from other kinds of foods, such as starchy foods (wholegrain where possible) and fruits and vegetables, and only eat foods high in free sugars occasionally or not at all.

The Eatwell Guide shows how much of what we eat should come from each of the main food groups in order to have a healthy, balanced diet.

Learn more about how to have a balanced diet.

Tooth decay and sugar

Sugar is one of the main causes of tooth decay. 

To prevent tooth decay, reduce the amount of food and drinks you have that contain free sugars – such as sweets, chocolates, cakes, biscuits, sugary breakfast cereals, jams, honey, fruit smoothies and dried fruit – and limit them to mealtimes.

The sugars found naturally in fruit and vegetables are less likely to cause tooth decay, because they’re contained within the structure.

But when fruit and vegetables are juiced or blended into a smoothie, the sugars are released. Once released, these sugars can damage teeth.

Limit the amount of fruit juice and smoothies you drink to a maximum of 150ml (a small glass) in total per day, and drink it with meals to reduce the risk of tooth decay.

Squashes sweetened with sugar, fizzy drinks, soft drinks and juice drinks have no place in a child’s daily diet.

If you’re looking after children, swap any sugary drinks for water, lower-fat milk or sugar-free drinks.

Dried fruit and your teeth

It’s better for your teeth to eat dried fruit as part of a meal, such as added to your breakfast cereal, tagines and stews, or as part of a healthy dessert – a baked apple with raisins, for example – and not as a between-meal snack.

Page last reviewed: 14 July 2020
Next review due: 14 July 2023

Practical Strategies to Help Reduce Added Sugars Consumption to Support Glycemic and Weight Management Goals

Abstract

Overconsumption of added sugars is a key contributor to the growing obesity, prediabetes, and type 2 diabetes pandemics. The nutrition therapy guidance of the American Diabetes Association recognizes that using low- and no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS) to reduce consumption of added sugars can reduce low–nutrient-density sources of calories and carbohydrate to beneficially affect glycemia, weight, and cardiometabolic health. This article provides information for primary care providers, diabetes care and education specialists, and other diabetes clinicians on the safety of LNCS and summarizes research evidence on the role of LNCS in glycemic and weight management. It also provides practical strategies for counseling individuals about how to integrate LNCS into their healthy eating pattern.

The increasing number of adults and children/adolescents who are overweight and obese in the United States is a national health concern. Numerous studies have shown that overweight and obesity are significant risk factors for several interrelated health conditions, including prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, and other significant health conditions of increasing concern (1,2), such as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (3). Excessive weight is a concern in individuals with type 1 or type 2 diabetes and is a leading risk factor for prediabetes (4) because it decreases insulin sensitivity, which creates additional challenges in achieving and maintaining management of glycemia and other cardiometabolic health metrics (5).

Given the growing pandemics of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, and obesity and their associated costs (6), it is imperative that primary care providers (PCPs), diabetes care and education specialists, and other diabetes clinicians provide people who have or are at risk for developing diabetes with practical strategies for weight management and healthier eating. For many people, the most challenging part of their diabetes care plan is knowing what to eat and adhering to a healthy eating plan over time (7). Some individuals can achieve some success by reducing consumption of added sugars by choosing foods and beverages sweetened with low- and no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS) and using their preferred type and forms of table-top LNCS to sweeten foods and beverages. LNCS, the term used throughout this publication, are also referred to as low-calorie sweeteners, nonnutritive sweeteners, sugar substitutes, and high-intensity sweeteners (8). As sweetening ingredients, LNCS add no or negligible calories to foods and beverages.

This article reviews evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of LNCS in glycemic and weight management. It also provides practical strategies for clinicians to help people with diabetes and prediabetes effectively use LNCS to replace full-calorie sources of added sugars to assist with weight management and glycemic goals.

Scope of the Problem

The National Center for Health Statistics reports that the prevalence of obesity was 42.4% in 2017–2018 (9). The prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents is estimated to be 18.5% (10).

Overconsumption of various sources of added sugars is one contributor to the growing obesity pandemic. Several recent meta-analyses confirm the strong relationship between the consumption of added sugars, including sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), and the onset of obesity and development of type 2 diabetes (11–19).

In a study by Schulze et al. (16), which followed >50,000 women for 8 years, investigators found that women who consumed more than one SSB per day had an 83% greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who consumed less than one SSB per month. It has been speculated that high amounts of added sugars (particularly high-fructose corn syrup) are rapidly absorbed, and the excessive glycemic load may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes independent of obesity (18). As recently reported by O’Connor et al. (20), higher intakes of added sugars from nonalcoholic beverages and full-calorie sweeteners added to tea, coffee, and cereal are associated with deleterious glycemia and inflammatory markers.

According to the 2015–2020 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee report, added sugars contribute, on average, 270 kcal/day, or ∼13% of total daily calories. This amount is the equivalent of 17 teaspoons per day, which is two times the recommended intake (21). The estimated proportion of the U.S. population who met the guidance in the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans to consume <10% of energy from added sugars has increased from 30% in 2007–2010 to 37% in 2013–2016. Based on evidence explored by the 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, the report recommends limiting added sugars to an even lower amount: ≤6% of total calories at most energy levels based on newer evidence about the negative health impacts of added sugars and to allow people to meet their nutrient needs from nutrient-dense foods (21). The report also states that added sugars could be reduced by consuming low- or no-sugar-added versions of foods and beverages that make positive nutrient contributions. This recommendation to further reduce added sugars aligns more closely with the added sugars recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO), last issued in 2015 (22). At that time, the WHO strongly recommended that adults and children should reduce added sugars to <10%, with a conditional recommendation to further reduce added sugars to 5% of total calories.

Although consumption of SSBs has slowly declined during the past several years (23), they remain the single largest source of added sugars (47%) in the U.S. diet. Approximately 7% of added sugars from beverages are attributed to a variety of table-top sugars such as granulated sugar and honey that are added to coffee and tea (21). Additional sources of added sugars are found in snacks and sweets (31%), grains (8%), and condiments, gravies, spreads, and salad dressings (2%) (Figure 1) (21).

FIGURE 1

Sources of added sugars in the U.S. diet (21).

LNCS Available for Use in the U.S. Marketplace

Global regulatory authorities, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Joint U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, European Food Safety Authority, and Health Canada, have, over many years, determined the safety of LNCS using similar rigorous regulatory review protocols. The FDA regulates LNCS either through the Food Additive approval process or the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) process (24–26). LNCS are deemed safe for their permitted uses and allowed for use by the general population, including people with diabetes, children, and pregnant and lactating women. One type of LNCS, aspartame, should be limited by individuals with a rare inherited metabolic disorder known as phenylketonuria because of its phenylalanine content.

As a result of increasing consumer demand for more natural products over the past decade, several plant-derived LNCS have entered the marketplace, including those derived from stevia and monk fruit. The dominant ingredients in the LNCS naturals category are derived from one or a combination of steviol glycosides. All are allowed on the U.S. marketplace as GRAS ingredients (27,28).

LNCS ingredients, either traditional or natural, are used in one of two ways: to replace added sugars in an array of commercially manufactured foods and beverages or as table-top sweetener substitutes for full-calorie sweeteners such as granulated sugar, honey, and brown sugar. Table 1 presents a list of added sugars used in foods and beverages.

TABLE 1

Added Sugars Commonly Used as Ingredients in Foods and Beverages

When used as substitutes for added sugars, LNCS are most commonly used to sweeten coffee and other hot or cold beverages, hot or cold cereals, and yogurt and fruit; they are also used for cooking and baking. For these purposes, LNCS are available in various forms. Granulated LNCS are provided in individual packets for table-top use and in jars or pouches for use in beverages, baking, and cooking. “Squeeze and stir” liquid LNCS can be added to cold beverages and cereals without the need to dissolve. LNCS blends, with granulated sugar or granulated and brown sugar, can be used for an array of baking and cooking when the functional properties of sugar are needed but the benefit of fewer calories and carbohydrates per serving can be gained.

Evidence on Effectiveness of LNCS on Glycemic and Weight Management

Findings from Expert Consensus

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses/systematic reviews have demonstrated the impact of LNCS use on glucose metabolism (29–35) and weight management (36–39). A summary of findings from these studies is presented in Tables 2 and 3.

TABLE 2

Findings from Key Studies of the Effects of LNCS on Glycemic Management (Glucose Metabolism)

TABLE 3

Findings from Key Studies of the Effects of LNCS on Weight Management

In 2018, an international panel of health care professionals, nutrition researchers, and food toxicologists evaluated the substantial body of evidence relevant to the associations between use of LNCS and weight and glycemic management (8). The following summarizes the panel’s key findings, which are consistent with other recent international consensus statements (40,41):

  • LNCS reduce calorie intake, can enhance adherence to nutrition recommendations, and assist in weight and glycemic management when substituted for added sugars in an individual’s eating plan.

  • LNCS do not adversely affect blood glucose levels (A1C or fasting or postprandial glucose) or insulin regulation in individuals with or without diabetes.

  • There is a need to research and develop evidence-based strategies to communicate facts to consumers, health professionals, and policy makers.

  • Experts agree that, with the reduction of added sugars being recommended globally to lower the risk and prevalence of obesity, LNCS are a strategy to consider.

  • Efforts should be made to understand and, where possible, reconcile policy discrepancies between organizations and reduce regulatory hurdles that impede product development and reformulation designed to reduce sugars and calories.

Although water is considered by some to be an optimal beverage choice, a recent American Heart Association science advisory that was supported by the American Diabetes Association recognized that children with well-managed diabetes may be able to prevent excessive glucose excursions by substituting beverages with LNCS for SSBs when needed (42). The authors of this science advisory also determined that use of beverages with LNCS may also be an effective replacement strategy for adults who are habitual consumers of SSBs. Carbonated soft drinks with LNCS were found in one study to assist adults in controlling calorie intake, weight loss, and weight maintenance (43).

Limitations of Observational Studies on LNCS

A common thread throughout all current recommendations on LNCS is recognition of the limitations inherent to using meta-analyses of observational study designs to assess the efficacy of LNCS in weight management (8,40,41,44). Unlike RCTs, which directly assess the effects of an identifiable intervention (e.g., use of LNCS) versus a comparator (i.e., control) intervention within a well-defined study population, observational studies cannot determine causal relationships between intervention and outcome. For example, whereas an observational study may show an association between use of LNCS and weight gain, it is not possible to determine whether individuals gained weight because they were consuming LNCS or whether they were consuming these products because they were overweight or were managing type 2 diabetes. Other limitations of these studies include small sample sizes, short study durations, and lack of participants’ dietary history and information on other factors that can affect clinical outcomes. These limitations are compounded by reliance on meta-analyses/systematic reviews that are heavily weighted with observational studies (11,44–47). Many of these reports provide little or no information about the characteristics of included studies such as study designs, comparators assessed, effect sizes, and study quality (48).

Consideration of results from RCTs, reported individually or within well-designed meta-analyses, is the most appropriate approach for assessing the impact of LNCS relevant to glycemic control and weight management.

So, Why the Controversy About LNCS?

Despite the robust body of evidence supporting the benefits of use of LNCS in glycemic and weight management, these findings are often overshadowed by media headlines and stories based on unsubstantiated data or observational studies, which, as discussed earlier, are inherently flawed and inconclusive. For example, the recent study by Dalenberg et al. reported that “consumption of sucralose in the presence of a carbohydrate rapidly impairs glucose metabolism and results in longer-term decreases in brain but not perceptual, sensitivity to sweet taste, suggesting dysregulation of gut-brain control of glucose metabolism” (49). Adhering to established ethics for reporting medical research, the investigators appropriately listed the limitations of their study, which included:

  • Small sample size: included only 13 people in the experimental group

  • Short study duration: lasted only 2 weeks

  • Nutrition data self-reported and collected only at baseline, allowing for the possibility that other components of the diet and diet-related behavior could have affected the findings

  • Questionable clinical significance: no group differences observed in glucose response

However, rather than provide an objective review of the study findings, the Washington Post instead published a uniformed article titled, “A common artificial sweetener might be making you fatter and sicker, a new study says: Sucralose in conjunction with carbohydrates may blunt the body’s ability to metabolize sugar appropriately” (50). Although the article contained numerous references to observational studies “associating” use of LNCS to various adverse outcomes, it failed to report the limitations of the study that significantly diminished the credibility of its findings.

Sensationalized headlines have created unwarranted public alarm and confusion about the safety of LNCS over the course of many years. Conversely, a recent well-designed meta-analysis/systematic review by Laviada-Molina et al. (36), which demonstrated significant benefits of using LNCS in weight management, received no media coverage.

In short, meta-analyses and systematic reviews that include both RCTs and observational studies provide limited guidance. For example, a recent systematic review and meta-analysis by Azad et al. (50) reported no statistically or clinically relevant differences between subjects who consumed LNCS and those who regularly consumed sugar. Yet, the authors emphasized that many of the studies they included were of low quality and that the findings of the observational studies regarding the health effects of using LNCS should be interpreted with caution.

Importantly, the findings from Azad et al. (51) are in stark contrast to those reported in a meta-analysis by Rogers et al. (52), which included only RCTs in the analysis. In the study by Rogers et al., investigators concluded that the preponderance of evidence from all human RCTs indicates that LNCS do not increase energy intake or body weight and that the balance of evidence indicates that use of LNCS as a replacement for added sugars in children and adults leads to reduced body weight, and this reduction is also apparent when beverages containing LNCS are compared with water (52).

Practical Strategies to Reduce Consumption of Added Sugars

Motivations that Influence Use of LNCS

To our knowledge, no academic studies have been conducted to assess consumer motivations for using LNCS or preferences for specific LNCS. However, results from a 2020 survey of people who use LNCS (MarketLab, Philadelphia, PA; unpublished observations) provide some insights regarding consumer attitudes and behaviors. Conducted by an independent market research firm (MarketLab, unpublished observations), the survey included a national cohort of 919 respondents that was equally balanced in terms of sex, education, and income level.

As shown in Figure 2, the most commonly reported reasons for using LNCS were to reduce the intake of added sugars and to reduce overall calorie consumption. We hypothesize that “reduces calories” is a motivation for weight loss and management. When counseling individuals, clinicians who deliver diabetes care should leverage the motivators for leading a healthier lifestyle and losing/managing weight to emphasize that reducing added sugars in both ready-to-eat and home-prepared foods and beverages can help people achieve the associated health benefits.

FIGURE 2

Most common reasons for using LNCS reported in a 2020 survey of 919 users of these products (MarketLab, unpublished observations).

Importance of Taste in Successful Transition to Using LNCS

In the previously mentioned 2020 survey (MarketLab, unpublished observations), 514 users of LNCS were asked to identify the brand of LNCS they consistently use. As presented in Figure 3, survey respondents showed a stronger preference for Splenda (sucralose) compared with Equal and Sweet’N Low, the other traditional table-top sweeteners, as evidenced by a higher percentage of respondents who report consistent use of the brand. Splenda Naturals Stevia was consistently rated highest in the natural LNCS category.

FIGURE 3

Consumer taste preferences for users of traditional (n = 514) (A) and natural (n = 512) (B) table-top sweeteners by brand name (MarketLab, unpublished observations).

These finding are important when counseling individuals because numerous studies have shown that the taste of food plays an important role in food choices, eating behaviors, and food intake (53–56) and that the more distant a recommended change is from the person’s actual eating habits, the more difficult it is to gain sustained adherence to the recommended change (57,58). In a national survey of 2,967 U.S. adults (54), respondents were asked to rate the factors they felt were most influential in their food choices. On a 5-point Likert scale (from 1 = least to 5 = most), the mean score for importance of taste was 4.7, followed by cost (4.1), nutrition (3.9), convenience (3.8), and weight control (3.4). The investigators concluded that their results suggest that nutritional concerns per se are of less importance to most people than taste and cost. Therefore, product recommendations should focus on promoting healthy eating habits that are aligned with the consumer goals of having foods that are “tasty and inexpensive” (54).

Starting the Conversation

Although patients may generally understand the importance of limiting their intake of added sugars, many may not realize the quantity of added sugars they consume on a daily basis. As previously noted, U.S. adults consume, on average, 17 teaspoons of added sugars per day, which is nearly two times the recommended maximum daily intake. Therefore, a starting point for discussion could be to raise patients’ awareness that their daily added sugars intake is likely much higher than they realize. The reason may be, in part, that they do not recognize that added sugars in foods and beverages are represented on food packaging nutrition labels by numerous ingredients and names, as listed in Table 1. It can be valuable to make this list a teaching tool to raise patients’ awareness about the many sources of added sugars. With this knowledge in hand, encourage patients to read the ingredient lists on the foods and beverages they consider purchasing and to consider not buying those that contain large amounts of added sugars.

The next step might be to discuss the current recommendations for daily intake of added sugars. The current guidance from the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (21), to limit intake of added sugars from all foods and beverages to <10% of total daily calories, translates to ≤9 teaspoons for men and ≤6 teaspoons for women. Table 4 illustrates how substituting LNCS for full-calorie sweeteners can help patients achieve these recommendations.

TABLE 4

Impact of Substituting LNCS for Added Sugars in Sweetened Beverages

Successful weight loss and long-term weight management require making sustainable changes in eating habits and food choices. However, PCPs have limited time to spend offering nutrition guidance to their patients to reduce added sugars with the use of LNCS. To assist, Table 5 offers suggested open-ended questions that diabetes care clinicians can use to start a conversation with patients to assess their knowledge and, based on their readiness to change, help them set goals to reduce added sugars and consider the use of LNCS (both as table-top sweeteners and in products sweetened with LNCS). A crucial conceptual point to cover when encouraging patients to use LNCS to reduce added sugars is to avoid compensating for the reduction of calories with increased intake of calorie-containing foods and beverages.

TABLE 5

Goals for Reducing Intake of Added Sugars

When counseling patients, it is essential to provide guidance that is achievable and sustainable, empowering people with prediabetes and diabetes (type 1 or type 2) to adopt healthier food choices without compromising their taste preferences. It is also important to provide specific product recommendations when counseling individuals, particularly for people who have little or no previous experience using products made with LNCS (57,58). In their recent cross-sectional study of 91 people with type 2 diabetes, Jaworski et al. (59) reported that lack of knowledge about recommended products and their availability was the most common problem reported by study participants. For this reason, we suggest that diabetes care providers try the available table-top LNCS. The most commonly used table-top LNCS in the United States today are listed in Table 6.

TABLE 6

Most Common Brand-Name Table-Top LNCS

Another important strategy is to present simple options for substituting LNCS for added sugars in common foods. Following are ideas to encourage switching from using added sugars to using LNCS:

  • Use LNCS to sweeten hot or iced coffee or tea.

  • Instead of SSBs, use a diet beverage or drink still or sparkling water instead. To increase the palatability of water, flavor it with a splash of fruit juice or a few squeezes of lemon or lime and then add an LNCS to sweeten. (Consider that some patients may find that drinking carbonated beverages is satisfying and quenches their desire for a sweet taste. )

  • Use LNCS to sweeten fruit (e.g., grapefruit, strawberries, or other berries).

  • Put LNCS in the sugar bowl instead of sugar.

  • Use LNCS instead of sugar when making sweets, treats, and desserts.

  • Use LNCS in homemade salad dressings, marinades, and sauces.

The impact of taste cannot be overemphasized. Diabetes care providers should consider the taste preference survey results when recommending LNCS options (Figure 3).

Summary

Individuals who are overweight or obese are at significant risk for developing prediabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and other health conditions (1–3). These risks are elevated among overweight or obese individuals with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, who are further challenged to maintain their glucose control because of decreased insulin sensitivity (5). Overconsumption of added sugars is a driver of overweight and obesity (21). Given the growing pandemics of diabetes and prediabetes, accompanied by the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity (9), there is a clear need for effective strategies that promote healthier eating habits and alternatives to overconsumption of added sugars.

Based on evidence from recent RCTs (30–33,35,39,58), experts on LNCS have published consensus statements (8,40,41,59) that recognize the potential of LNCS to reduce calorie intake and assist in weight loss and weight management when consciously substituted for added sugars (30–33,35,58). Importantly, these benefits can be realized without adversely affecting blood glucose levels (A1C or fasting or postprandial blood glucose) or insulin regulation in individuals with diabetes (36,37,39).

Diabetes clinicians can play a significant role in assisting patients to reduce their intake of added sugars. In this article, we have outlined practical strategies clinicians can implement to help their patients obtain evidence-based information about LNCS. When encouraging lifestyle behavior modification to change food choices and eating habits, it is crucial to meet patients where they are, with an understanding of their current food choices, eating habits, food security, home and work situations, and other factors. In addition, if weight loss is being encouraged to prevent or delay prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, it is important to identify and leverage each patient’s motivations for weight management. This strategy also provides an opportunity to dispel any myths and misinformation reported in the media and reinforces the message that LNCS are both safe and effective as a component of weight management efforts.

It is important to recognize the role of taste in choosing foods and to make specific product recommendations that consider taste as a key consumer factor. Therefore, clinicians should consider the preference data discussed earlier as a first option for patients. It is also important to present various options and forms of LNCS and to encourage experimentation with these alternatives.

Because most people require frequent, consistent nutrition counseling and support over time to make and adhere to behavioral lifestyle changes that assist with weight loss maintenance, it is suggested that clinicians refer people with or at high risk for prediabetes to a National Diabetes Prevention Program, Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program, or similar program (7,59). Additionally, diabetes self-management education and support and medical nutrition therapy should be provided at regular intervals through the course of patients’ disease (60). These services are covered by Medicare and many private payors (7,59).

Perhaps most important is to establish an honest, collaborative, and person-centered relationship with patients to facilitate shared decision-making in setting practical, individualized, and achievable goals that address their preferences, circumstances, and capabilities.

Article Information

Funding

Funding for the development of this manuscript was provided by Heartland Food Products Group.

Duality of Interest

H.W. has received consulting and speaker fees from Heartland Food Products Group, Tate & Lyle, and several trade associations. No other potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

Author Contributions

H.W. and S.V.E. wrote, reviewed, and approved the manuscript for submission. H.W. is the guarantor of this work and, as such, takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the content.

  • © 2020 by the American Diabetes Association

Type 1 Diabetes Nutrition » Diabetes Institute » College of Medicine » University of Florida

If you have type 1 diabetes, it is important to know how many carbohydrates you eat at a meal. This information helps you determine how much insulin you should take with your meal to maintain blood sugar (glucose) control.

Carbohydrates are the main type of food that raises blood sugar. The starch, fruit and milk groups of the Food Group Pyramid for Diabetes are high in carbs. Foods in the Other Carbohydrates and Combination Food groups are also high in carbs. The vegetable group has a small amount of carbohydrates. The meat and fat groups have few or no carbs. The amount of carbohydrates you eat at each meal will determine how high your blood sugar rises after the meal. The other two major nutrients, protein and fat ,also have an effect on blood glucose levels, though it is not as rapid or great as carbohydrates.

Most people with diabetes can control their blood sugar by limiting carbohydrate servings to 2-4 per meal and 1-2 per snack.

A delicate balance of carbohydrate intake, insulin, and physical activity is necessary for the best blood sugar (glucose) levels. Eating carbohydrates increases your blood sugar (glucose) level. Exercise tends to decrease it (although not always). If the three factors are not in balance, you can have wide swings in blood sugar (glucose) levels.

If you have type 1 diabetes and take a fixed dose of insulin, the carbohydrate content of your meals and snacks should be consistent from day to day.

Children and Diabetes

Weight and growth patterns can help determine if a child with type 1 diabetes is getting enough nutrition.

Changes in eating habits and more physical activity help improve blood sugar (glucose) control. For children with diabetes, special occasions (like birthdays or Halloween) require additional planning because of the extra sweets. You may allow your child to eat sugary foods, but then have fewer carbohydrates during other parts of that day. For example, if child eats birthday cake, Halloween candy, or other sweets, they should NOT have the usual daily amount of potatoes, pasta, or rice. This substitution helps keep calories and carbohydrates in better balance.

Meal Planning

One of the most challenging aspects of managing diabetes is meal planning. Work closely with your doctor and dietitian to design a meal plan that maintains near-normal blood sugar (glucose) levels. The meal plan should give you or your child the proper amount of calories to maintain a healthy body weight.

The food you eat increases the amount of glucose in your blood. Insulin decreases blood sugar (glucose). By balancing food and insulin together, you can keep your blood sugar (glucose) within a normal range. Keep these points in mind:

  • Your doctor or dietitian should review the types of food you or your child usually eats and build a meal plan from there. Insulin use should be a part of the meal plan. Understand how to time meals for when insulin will start to work in your the body.
  • Be consistent. Meals and snacks should be eaten at the same times each day. Do not skip meals and snacks. Keep the amount and types of food (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) consistent from day to day.
  • Learn how to read food labels to help plan you or your child’s carbohydrate intake.
  • Use insulin at the same time each day, as directed by the doctor.

Monitor blood sugar (glucose) levels. The doctor will tell you if you need to adjust insulin doses based on blood sugar (glucose) levels and the amount of food eaten.

Having diabetes does not mean you or your child must completely give up any specific food, but it does change the kinds of foods one should eat routinely. Choose foods that keep blood sugar (glucose) levels in good control. Foods should also provide enough calories to maintain a healthy weight.


Recommendations

A registered dietitian can help you best decide how to balance your diet with carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Here are some general guidelines:

The amount of each type of food you should eat depends on your diet, your weight, how often you exercise, and other existing health risks. Everyone has individual needs, which is why you should work with your doctor and, possibly, a dietitian to develop a meal plan that works for you.

But there are some reliable general recommendations to guide you. The Diabetes Food Pyramid, which resembles the old USDA food guide pyramid, splits foods into six groups in a range of serving sizes. In the Diabetes Food Pyramid, food groups are based on carbohydrate and protein content instead of their food classification type. A person with diabetes should eat more of the foods in the bottom of the pyramid (grains, beans, vegetables) than those on the top (fats and sweets). This diet will help keep your heart and body systems healthy.

Grains, Beans, and Starchy Vegetables

(6 or more servings a day)

Foods like bread, grains, beans, rice, pasta, and starchy vegetables are at the bottom of the pyramid because they should serve as the foundation of your diet. As a group, these foods are loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and healthy carbohydrates.

It is important, however, to eat foods with plenty of fiber. Choose whole-grain foods such as whole-grain bread or crackers, tortillas, bran cereal, brown rice, or beans. Use whole-wheat or other whole-grain flours in cooking and baking. Choose low-fat breads, such as bagels, tortillas, English muffins, and pita bread.

Vegetables

(3 – 5 servings a day)

Choose fresh or frozen vegetables without added sauces, fats, or salt. You should opt for more dark green and deep yellow vegetables, such as spinach, broccoli, romaine, carrots, and peppers.

Fruits

(2 – 4 servings a day)

Choose whole fruits more often than juices. Fruits have more fiber. Citrus fruits, such as oranges, grapefruits, and tangerines, are best. Drink fruit juices that do NOT have added sweeteners or syrups.

Milk

(2 – 3 servings a day)

Choose low-fat or nonfat milk or yogurt. Yogurt has natural sugar in it, but it can also contain added sugar or artificial sweeteners. Yogurt with artificial sweeteners has fewer calories than yogurt with added sugar.

Meat and Fish

(2 – 3 servings a day)

Eat fish and poultry more often. Remove the skin from chicken and turkey. Select lean cuts of beef, veal, pork, or wild game. Trim all visible fat from meat. Bake, roast, broil, grill, or boil instead of frying.

Fats, Alcohols, and Sweets

In general, you should limit your intake of fatty foods, especially those high in saturated fat, such as hamburger, cheese, bacon, and butter.

If you choose to drink alcohol, limit the amount and have it with a meal. Check with your health care provider about a safe amount for you.

Sweets are high in fat and sugar, so keep portion sizes small. Other tips to avoid eating too many sweets:

  • Ask for extra spoons and forks and split your dessert with others.
  • Eat sweets that are sugar-free.
  • Always ask for the small serving size.

Ketogenic Diet

New data suggests the ketogenic diet may aid in diabetes management. Keto is a low carb (less than 50g daily) diet with high amounts of healthy fats. The goal is to enter ketosis, a state where fat is the body’s main source of fuel. In type 1 diabetes, a survey on low carb diets showed less complications and good blood sugar control. In type 2 diabetes, a keto diet showed less insulin use and improved HbA1c (a marker for diabetes)1.

Intermittent fasting is an approach that limits when you eat, not what you eat. How it’s practiced varies greatly. Some may only eat within an 8-hour window or fast (not eat) every other day. Thus, results can vary. One study showed that alternate day fasting had no metabolic benefits2, while another showed only eating early in the day was beneficial for men with prediabetes3. And while animal studies have also shown improvements in diabetes, more work remains to be done in humans.

Disclosures: Long-term results and health risks of keto and intermittent fasting are unknown. Please speak with your doctor or dietician before modifying your diet. You should also know how to read food labels, and consult them when making food decisions. Your meal plan is for you only. Each person with diabetes may have a slightly different meal plan. Talk to your Registered Dietitian or Certified Diabetes Educator to help you plan your meals.

References:
Ludwig, D. S., Willett, W. C., Volek, J. S., & Neuhouser, M. L. (2018). Dietary fat: From foe to friend? Science, 362(6416), 764–770. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau2096

Trepanowski, J. F., Kroeger, C. M., Barnosky, A., Klempel, M. C., Bhutani, S., Hoddy, K. K., Gabel, K., Freels, S., Rigdon, J., Rood, J., Ravussin, E., & Varady, K. A. (2017). Effect of Alternate-Day Fasting on Weight Loss, Weight Maintenance, and Cardioprotection Among Metabolically Healthy Obese Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Internal Medicine, 177(7), 930. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.0936

Sutton, E. F., Beyl, R., Early, K. S., Cefalu, W. T., Ravussin, E., & Peterson, C. M. (2018). Early Time-Restricted Feeding Improves Insulin Sensitivity, Blood Pressure, and Oxidative Stress Even without Weight Loss in Men with Prediabetes. Cell Metabolism, 27(6), 1212-1221.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2018.04.010

American Diabetes Association. Standards of medical care in diabetes–2011. Diabetes Care. 2011 Jan;34 Suppl 1:S11-61.

Eisenbarth GS, Polonsky KS, Buse JB. Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. In: Kronenberg HM, Melmed S, Polonsky KS, Larsen PR. Kronenberg: Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. 11th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2008:chap 31.

American Diabetes Association. Nutrition recommendations and interventions for diabetes: a position statement of the American Diabetes Association. Diabetes Care. 2008;31:S61-S78.

Type 2 diabetes: Recommended daily allowance of sugar a day in the UK – 30g

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the level of sugar in the blood is too high.

Diabetes is a lifelong condition, but can be controlled by making simple lifestyle changes and taking medication.

If not controlled, type 2 diabetes can lead to serious complications with the heart, nerves, eyes and kidneys.

So how much sugar is it safe for diabetic people to consume?

The UK recommended guidelines for sugar intake state added sugar should not make up more than five per cent of the energy we get from food and drink each day.

This equates to about 30g of sugar for adults and children over the age of 11, which is equal to seven cubes or seven teaspoons of sugar.

Children aged four to seven should consume a maximum of 19g, which is equal to five cubes or five teaspoons of sugar.

Children aged seven to ten should consume no more than 24g, which is equal to six cubes or six teaspoons of sugar.

The guidelines are the same for both diabetic people and people without diabetes, as even people without diabetes are advised to limit sugar intake.

This is because eating too much sugar can cause tooth decay, but also, many sugary foods and drinks also contain lots of calories, which can contribute to becoming overweight.

In turn, being overweight can increase the risk of developing diabetes and other health problems like heart disease and strokes.

“As part of a healthy, balanced diet, you should consume fewer foods and drinks that are high in sugars,” warned the NHS.

“Sugary foods and drinks can cause tooth decay, especially if you have them between meals.”

“Many foods that contain added sugars also contain lots of calories but often have few other nutrients. Eating these foods frequently can contribute to becoming overweight.”

The NHS advises reading the nutritional information on food labels to see how much sugar certain foods and drinks contain.

The nearer to the beginning of the ingredient list sugar is, the more sugar the product contains.

The ‘carbohydrates (of which sugars)’ figure on the nutrition labels will state how much sugar the product contains for every 100g.

More than 22.5g of total sugars per 100g is high, while 5g or less of total sugars per 100g is low.

Sugar is often listed under different names on ingredients lists, which can disguise the fact it is present.

Sugar can be listed as: glucose, sucrose, maltose, honey, molasses, maple syrup, glucose strip, hydrolysed starch, corn syrup, agave nectar, coconut palm sugar and treacle.

90,000 What is the safe sugar per day for your health

Excessive consumption of sugar can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes, obesity and diseases of the heart and blood vessels.

Sugar is the most harmful product that does not supply the body with any nutrients and nutrients, but provides it with empty calories. Over the years, sugar is absorbed in the human blood and leads to the development of such serious diseases as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular dystonia.That is why it is undesirable for a person to consume refined sugar. However, giving up on it is quite difficult, especially in the modern world, when there are many delicious desserts and delicacies.

To stay healthy and at the same time not stop pampering yourself with goodies, it is enough to adhere to the permissible norm. Nutritionist-endocrinologist Tatiana Bocharova told about how much sugar a day is safe for health.

Norm for adults

According to WHO recommendations, the daily sugar intake for an adult is approximately 20-25 grams.That being said, the number includes not only the sugar we put in hot drinks every day, but also the sugar that is found in many foods: desserts, sauces, ketchups, canned vegetables, muesli, processed breakfast cereals, and low-fat dairy products.

“Sugar – White Death”

The nutritionist also noted that the allowable amount of sugar (20-25 grams) is equivalent to about five or six tablespoons of sugar. We drink tea two or three times a day and, accordingly, put the same amount of tablespoons of granulated sugar in a hot drink. Moreover, we also use other sweets that contain a large amount of sugar: 50 grams of milk chocolate, a 0.3 liter can of carbonated drink, or two ripe bananas.

The overuse of these foods increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and obesity, the doctor added. By exceeding the daily amount of sugar, we are taking a step towards many health problems at our own peril and risk. “When more sweets are eaten, the number of calories from such foods should not exceed 10 percent of the total caloric intake of the daily diet,” said Tatiana Bocharova.

Norm for children

According to the endocrinologist, the daily sugar intake for children under ten years old is about three tablespoons. Children under three years old can only get sugar from the following sources: fruits, dried fruits and vegetables.

Scientists have discovered the benefits of green tea and coffee for diabetics | News | Izvestia

Daily significant consumption of green tea and coffee reduces mortality in type 2 diabetes patients by 63%. This conclusion was reached by Japanese scientists, whose research results were published in the BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care journal.

In the Fukuoka Diabetes Registry study, which aims to assess the impact of medication and lifestyle choices on the mortality rate of patients with type 2 diabetes, scientists from Kyushu University, led by Yuji Komorita, have identified the relationship between green tea and coffee consumption. both separately and together, with the risk of death from all causes among the project participants.

The experiment involved 2,790 men and 2,133 women with an average age of 66 years, suffering from diabetes for at least five years.

All study participants filled out a questionnaire, where they provided information about their lifestyle. In addition to items about regular exercise, smoking, drinking alcohol, and the number of hours of sleep, the researchers also included questions about how many cups of green tea and coffee the patients drank per day.

In order to correct risk factors, the participants’ height, weight and blood pressure were measured, and blood and urine tests were taken.

It turned out that 607 participants did not drink green tea at all, 1143 drank one cup a day, 1384 – two or three cups and 1784 – four or more. 994 participants did not drink coffee, 1306 drank less than one cup a day, 963 had a cup every day, and 1660 had two or more cups.

Observations lasted five years, during this period 309 people died. The main causes of death were cancer and cardiovascular diseases – 114 and 76 people, respectively. The lowest mortality rates were shown by those who drank a lot of green tea and coffee.

The results showed that drinking four or more cups of green tea and two or more cups of coffee daily reduced the risk of death by 63%.

The authors of the article suggested that “the combined action of these two drinks enhances the effect.”

According to the researchers, this positive health impact of these two drinks is due to the fact that green tea contains several antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds, including phenols, theanine and caffeine, and coffee contains many biologically active components, including phenols. Caffeine is believed to have a positive effect on insulin production and improve insulin sensitivity.

On October 13, a member of the National Association of Dietitians and Nutritionists, nutritionist Marina Makisha named products, the use of which accelerates the aging of the body. In particular, foods containing white flour, sugar, starch, that is, refined carbohydrates, can provoke the development of diabetes mellitus and accelerate the aging of the body.

Info Field »5 facts about diabetes. Diabetic’s opinion.

You hardly ever thought that you would be diagnosed with diabetes. You have hardly thought about what it would be like to adapt for the rest of your life to a disease that you will never cure anyway. Your whole life turned upside down in an instant when the attending physician said: “We received your test results, unfortunately, this is diabetes.” What to do next? What if you heard this? Alissa Gramm, a diabetic with many years of experience, shares her experience.

There is no single correct answer to the question of what to do, since everyone’s stories and situations are different.But there are 5 steps you can take to go in the right direction.

Step # 1. Learn the terminology

The first step to managing diabetes is understanding the language that surrounds your diagnosis. Familiarity with the terminology means you won’t feel overwhelmed when doing research. Knowing the basic terms will prevent possible confusion.

Here are some basic concepts to know:

Blood glucose (BGL) is the concentration of glucose in the blood.In Russia, this level is measured in mmol of glucose per liter of blood (mmol / L). The normal range before meals is 4.0 to 6.0 mmol / L, and the normal range two hours after meals is 5.0 to 8.0 mmol / L.

The Glycemic Index (GI) is a scale that ranks carbohydrate-rich foods based on their effect on blood glucose levels.

Hyperglycemia – a condition when the level of glucose in the blood is higher than normal. Symptoms depend on how high the sugar is, but may include thirst, frequent urination, blurred vision, and fatigue.

If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, then from now on you will have to constantly monitor your blood glucose levels. The general recommendation for most people with diabetes is 4.0 to 7.0 mmol / L before meals and 5.0 to 10.0 two hours after.

Step # 2. Make sports and nutrition a part of your life

Eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly can help you manage your diabetes, especially if it’s type 2 diabetes.

When choosing the most suitable power system for yourself, pay attention to the following points:

  • Identify healthy eating options that you enjoy and include them on a regular basis.
  • Review the glycemic index of the foods you eat regularly to help you balance your diet as much as possible.
  • Plan your carbohydrate intake to achieve your desired blood glucose after meals. Popular apps can help you regulate your protein, fat, and carbohydrate intake.
  • Know that not all sugar is bad sugar. Some guidelines suggest that you can reduce your sugar intake to 10% of your daily calorie intake.Remember, there are also sugar alternatives, such as artificial or natural sweeteners, that you can include in your diet.
  • Consider working with a dietitian or your doctor to create a meal plan or flexible diet that suits your lifestyle.

Take time for fitness. And to make it as easy as possible, read the following guidelines:

  • Physical fitness is more than just going to the gym.It is important to do aerobic, strength, and stretching and mobility exercises to achieve a well-balanced fitness regimen. Break these 3 pillars throughout the day so you don’t get overwhelmed. For example, 10 minutes of stretching in the morning, a walk in the afternoon, and 30 minutes of free weights in the gym.
  • It is sometimes difficult to start. Find a friend who enjoys the same physical activity as you. Agree to practice together once or twice a week.
  • Try an activity app or tracker.They will keep you informed of your physical activity throughout the day and help make your workout effective.

Step # 3 Type 1 Diabetics, Learn More About Free Medicine

What separates type 1 diabetes from type 2 diabetes is the absolute need for insulin. In type 1 diabetics, the pancreas does not produce a hormone that is needed to control blood glucose levels.

You will have to purchase a lot of equipment, medicines and related products: glucometer, insulin, pens, needles, syringes.Since you will have to constantly monitor your blood sugar and inject small doses of insulin throughout the day, the costs associated with diabetes should be carefully considered. Explore the benefits and subsidies you are entitled to as a diabetic.

Step 4. Type 2 diabetics, try to achieve remission

The network has long been talking about curing type 2 diabetes by means of miracle drugs. However, so far these are just rumors. But achieving remission is a very real goal.Early detection of the disease gives the most chances for this.

A recent study from McMaster University in Ontario found that 11 out of 27 people had complete or partial remission of their diabetes after a 16-week program. The participants followed a low-calorie diet, exercised regularly, and took medication (melformin and acarbose).

You can also pause your diabetes by eating low-calorie or low-carb diets for potential success.

Early diagnosis and a healthy lifestyle are key here.

Step # 5. Never Stop Learning

Diabetes, whatever its type, is a complex and very serious disease. That is why there are special societies that are engaged in the prevention of diabetes and the search for the necessary drugs. However, the best tool in dealing with a diagnosis is your own mind. The more you know about your condition, the more successfully you will be able to cope with it.

If you are diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, then your life, of course, will change dramatically. However, this condition does not prevent you from living the life that you have always dreamed of. Or at least strive for it. Most important lesson for you to learn: The development of diabetes does not define you as a person – you are challenging.

Teaspoon of “sweet death”. How Much Sugar Can You Eat Every Day? | Proper nutrition | Health

Sugar aliases: sugar (sucrose, dextrose, sugar syrup), brown sugar, glucose (glucose syrup), fructose (fructose syrup), high fructose syrup (high fructose corn syrup), lactose (milk sugar) , fruit juice concentrates, maltose, maltose syrup, honey, invert sugar.

Sugar is largely a taboo subject. Until the beginning of the XXI century. experts recommended to consume it in moderation. Agree, there can be no more abstract and empty recommendation. But at the 57th Assembly of the World Health Organization in 2004, the limits of harmless sugar consumption were nevertheless announced. True, they did not become either the property of the general public, or a guide to action for physicians and food manufacturers. Why?

First, the recommendation was still not very clear.The experts did not tell us how many grams, nuggets or teaspoons of “white death” are allowed. They only advised us to consume so much sugar that no more than 10% of all calories in the daily diet would enter our body with it. How much sugar is it real? To solve such a problem with many unknowns, you need to be a specialist, so AiF has prepared a ready-made answer for its readers, which you can see in the table.

Lobby – on the forehead

But the main reason that the WHO recommendation did not become the property of the world is in the sugar lobby.It’s amazing how else the experts were allowed to voice their recommendations. The pressure on them and on then WHO CEO Gro Brundtlant was unprecedented. For example, American sugar lobbyists have transparently hinted that they will cut WHO funding by leveraging their congressional connections. The price of the issue was more than $ 400 million, and, demonstrating the seriousness of intentions, the President of the US Sugar Association E. Briscoe attached letters from influential senators L. Craig and J. Brix to his message to the WHO Director General.

Internet poll “AiF”

What are you doing to lose weight?

■ I follow a diet – 31% (243 votes)

■ Go in for sports – 19% (147 votes)

■ I take weight loss products – 2% (15 votes)

■ Nothing, my weight suits me – 48 % (384 votes)

Total votes: 789

By the way, in their homeland they won without problems, in America the official sugar consumption standards published by the local Ministry of Health are 2.5 times higher than those recommended by the WHO: that is, the Yankees can, with a clear conscience, consume a quarter of all daily calories in the form of sugars . ..Of course, there are opponents of such “schizophrenia from sweets”: the American Heart Association officially recommends limiting daily sugar intake to 5% of the daily amount of calories. And it looks like cardiologists are right.

Recently in the United States published data on the danger of large doses of sugar for the heart and blood vessels. Especially when it is consumed in the form of the so-called high fructose syrup. In the maximum recommended doses, this “national” American sugar, which is made there from corn and stuffed into all products, even those where sugar was not traditionally added, sharply increased bad cholesterol and lipids in the blood.All this leads to the development of atherosclerosis, which means – heart attacks, strokes, angina pectoris and other vascular ailments. Fortunately, we do not have much of this syrup, it is mostly found in imported products.

But ordinary sugar is not sugar either. Scientists have no doubt that it contributes to the development of obesity. This has been shown many times in observations of large groups of people consuming varying amounts of sugar-laden foods. And this is confirmed by biochemists: absorbed in large quantities, sugar is converted into fats.In the intestines, sugar is broken down to glucose, and it is absorbed into the bloodstream. Part of it is deposited in the liver, and all the excess after a series of biochemical reactions turns into fat.

Insulin contributes to the release of glucose into fat cells. And the more glucose, the more of this hormone is needed and the more fat is synthesized. First, this leads to obesity, then diabetes, hypertension and atherosclerosis occur.

These diseases are linked in a tragic tangle by common mechanisms of development, helping each other to progress.Today, doctors even combine them into a single disease – metabolic syndrome.

Sweet masks

And now the most bitter pill. When we talk about sugar, we are not only talking about granulated sugar and refined sugar, which you add at home to tea, coffee, compotes, jams, kefir, cottage cheese and cereals (only for this the average Russian often uses more sugar than the WHO recommends).

The limit 10% of calories includes not only this sugar, but also sugar in honey, juices and natural syrups.But that’s not all. It is necessary to take into account all industrial sugars that their manufacturers add to products. This is not only the classic sugar, which chemists call sucrose, but also glucose, fructose and other types and forms of sugars (see table). Their names are indicated in the composition of the products.

But, unfortunately, one Russian problem is associated with them: in the West, the label always indicates in a separate line how many grams of sugar are contained in one portion of the product. So they write: “sugar 16 g”.And this “sugar” contains all the sugars that we just talked about. They were specially calculated and brought to a common denominator.

In Russia, this information is not given, and we can judge the amount of total sugar only by eye: if sugars are indicated at the beginning of the list of ingredients or several types are used at once, then you can be sure that there are a lot of them.

Average daily energy requirement **, kcal

Age and gender

Sugar

grams

pieces or teaspoons

1000

Children 2-3 y.

25

5

1200-1400

Children 4-8 y.

30-35

6-7

1600

Girls 9-13 yrs., women after 50 y.p.

40

8

1800

Boys 9-13 years old, girls 14-18 years old, women from 30 to 50 years old.

45

9

2000

Girls from 19 y. o., women

up to 30 years old, men after 50 years.

50

10

2200

Men 30-50 y.o.

55

11

2400

Men 19-30 y.

60

12

** Energy requirement for people exercising or working less than 30 minutes per day

See also:

90,000 What should be the drinking regime for diabetes and what kind of water is better to drink

Diabetes is a common disease that affects millions of people. Thirst is one of the main symptoms of this ailment. Consider what should be the drinking regime for diabetes, and what kind of water is better to drink.

How much water is safe

Even people without health problems need to consume enough fluids, otherwise gastrointestinal disturbances, deterioration of the skin and brain activity are possible.

People with high blood sugar levels need water to lower and normalize the hormone vasopressin.

With diabetes and types 1 and 2, the daily water intake should be 2-3 liters at the rate of 30-40 mm per kilogram of body weight. It is recommended to use only purified water, free of pathogenic microbes and bacteria.

Potential consequences of violation of the drinking regime

Prolonged lack of clean water can lead to dehydration / dehydration. For a diabetic, the loss of 25% of body fluids can be fatal.

In diabetes, a person has polydipsia, an intense thirst caused by high blood sugar levels. The kidneys intensively flush out glucose, which takes water with it. 1 g of glucose “binds” and removes 15-40 g of water from the body. Dehydration sets in. The blood thickens, there is an excess secretion of the hormones cortisol and catecholamines. This further exacerbates the violation of metabolic processes characteristic of diabetes mellitus. To replenish moisture loss, 3-5 liters of liquid are needed.With its use, the pressure rises and urination becomes more frequent. The person is thirsty again. It turns out a vicious circle.

Replenish the lack of moisture carefully. Depleted cells create an additional protective layer of fat. It does not allow water to leave or enter the cage. If you drink a lot of fluids, it will accumulate in the intercellular space, leading to edema and weight gain.

How to deal with thirst

You can not break the drinking regime and drink plenty of fluids.The way out is to reduce the amount of glucose and bring its level to normal values.

Treatment is chosen depending on the type of underlying disease. In type 1 diabetes, insulin replacement therapy is prescribed with natural or synthetic drugs.

In type 2 diabetes, diet and hypoglycemic medications are prescribed in adequate doses, along with physical activity.

How to drink water

Drink plenty of clean water.You cannot replace it with drinks. Basic rules of the drinking regime:

  1. On awakening, drink 1 glass of water to “start” the gastrointestinal tract and replenish the fluid deficit experienced by the body during the night’s sleep.
  2. Water should be at room temperature. Then the body will not spend its own energy resources on heating it.
  3. If thirst appears while eating, take a couple of sips so that the food is adequately absorbed and digested.

    Pure or mineral

    Diabetes mellitus slows down metabolism and cell regeneration processes.In parallel, the body is deficient in many nutrients.

    Along with clean water, diabetics can use “mineral water”. However, it can be different. Table versions with a mineralization of up to 1 g per liter are allowed to drink without restrictions. They contain safe amounts of minerals. Dining “mineral water” stimulates digestion and improves the absorption of insulin. Before use, open the bottle and wait for the gases to “go away” from it.

    Variants with a mineralization of more than 1 g / l can be consumed after consulting a doctor.They have contraindications.

    90,000 What foods lower and raise blood sugar levels?

    Which foods lower and raise blood sugar levels?

    Diet correction is a key component of complex treatment for diabetes mellitus and hyperglycemia. We tell you what foods lower blood sugar levels, or at least do not lead to an increase in it.

    Under the action of enzymes, food is broken down in the human gastrointestinal tract into tiny components, some of which are absorbed into the bloodstream.Among them – glucose, extracted by the body from carbohydrates.

    Attention! By itself, the presence of glucose in the blood is not a disease. It is necessary because it is converted into energy under the influence of insulin. This hormone is produced by the pancreas in response to the entry of glucose into the bloodstream.

    With a balanced diet, the balance of insulin and glucose is observed, so its level remains normal. But if a person abuses carbohydrate food, the load on the pancreas increases.She does not have time to produce the required amount of the hormone, and the remnants of glucose not neutralized by it accumulate in the blood. As a result, hyperglycemia occurs – an increased level of glucose in the blood. Diabetes mellitus may develop over time.

    An indicator by which you can find out the carbohydrate load of a meal is called the glycemic index (GI). For glucose in its pure form, it is 100, and for products in which there are no carbohydrates at all – 0. Based on this, all food is divided into 3 groups:

    • High GI – from 70 to 100.
    • With an average GI – from 40 to 70.
    • Low GI – from 0 to 40.

    With an elevated blood glucose level, you can only eat foods with low and medium GI, which do not provoke spikes in glucose and lead to a decrease in glucose levels. Let’s get acquainted with them in more detail.

    To normalize blood glucose levels and increase the physiological effectiveness of insulin, natural inulin concentrate is used, a complex of biologically active substances of the amazing Jerusalem artichoke plant.In addition to normalizing carbohydrate metabolism, inulin helps to lower blood cholesterol levels, reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

    Herbal tea from wild herbs No. 9 (Carbohydrate control) – Baikal Tea Collection based on burdock root, alfalfa herb, white beans and blueberry shoots will help cleanse the body of carbohydrate metabolism products. Tea with a mild, balanced taste is especially suitable for those who monitor blood glucose levels and control the consumption of sweets.

    Vegetables and greens

    Almost all vegetables have a low to medium GI. In addition, they are low in calories and are able to prevent the deficiency of many vitamins and minerals during the diet. Therefore, doctors advise diabetics to make them the basis of the diet.

    Lettuce, broccoli, and tomatoes are the fastest and most effective ways to reduce high sugar levels. Their GI is indicated in the table:

    Product

    Glycemic index

    Leaf salad

    ten

    Broccoli

    ten

    Tomatoes

    ten

    Carrot

    35

    Cabbage

    ten

    Parsley

    5

    Fruits and berries

    Be careful with fruits.Some of them have a high GI. Citrus fruits are most useful for high sugar. In addition to their low glycemic index, they have a number of unique properties. For example, grapefruit improves the sensitivity of tissues to insulin, that is, reduces the risk of insulin resistance. Blueberries are even healthier than citrus fruits due to their high content of anthocyanins, which exhibit antioxidant properties.

    The right calories and maximum benefits of fruits, vegetables and nuts are contained in Fitness Kozinak Pumpkin-Mango – Yoo Go without flavors or colors.Contains: carrots, peanuts, mangoes, pumpkin seeds and pieces, pistachios – everything for a healthy snack and a long-lasting energy boost.

    Apples, pears, avocados and other fruits with low GI and high amounts of fiber, which inhibit its breakdown, can slow down the flow of glucose into the bloodstream.

    Product

    GI

    Orange, pomegranate

    35

    Grapefruit

    22

    Tangerines

    40

    Cranberry

    45

    Strawberry

    32

    Grape

    40

    Fish and seafood

    Fish and seafood have zero or close GI values.They effectively lower sugar and enrich the body with valuable proteins, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. They help to normalize the level of not only glucose, but also cholesterol.

    Beneficial omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) derived from refined marine fish oil are found in Omega-3 Ultra – Siberian Super Natural Sport. Only four capsules contain the daily requirement of PUFA to support the adult body.

    Attention! It is not recommended to eat fried and marinated fish and seafood dishes, as they impair the functioning of the pancreas and slow down the production of insulin.

    Legumes

    Legumes are rich in protein and slow carbohydrates, which help slow down the absorption of glucose and saturate the body well.

    Product

    GI

    Peanut

    twenty

    Lentils

    25

    Peas

    40

    Beans

    40

    Meat, poultry and offal

    Diabetic menus may include beef, pork, organ meats and poultry, since these foods have a zero glycemic index and are good sources of building protein and nutrients.At the same time, meat dishes can have a medium or high glycemic index, for example, for dumplings the glycemic index is 55-70, for pork cutlets – 50, for beef cutlets – 40.

    Disclaimer

    Please note that all information posted on the website
    Prowellness is provided for informational purposes only and is not a personal program, direct recommendation for action or medical advice.Do not use these materials for diagnosis, treatment, or any medical manipulation. Consult a physician before using any technique or using any product. This site is not a specialized medical portal and does not replace the professional advice of a specialist. The owner of the Site does not bear any responsibility to any party that has suffered indirect or direct damage as a result of improper use of materials posted on this resource.

    90,000 is the norm, how the indicators change at different times of the day

    It has long been known that people diagnosed with diabetes are concerned about the daily measurement of blood sugar levels. This procedure is vital for them.

    In addition, there are people who have a predisposition to “sweet illness”. They also need to track their blood sugar.

    This will allow timely prevention of the disease, prevent its development.The sugar rate during the day should not exceed the long-established values. If it is higher than it should be, this indicates diabetes, or a condition preceding the onset of a serious illness.

    How does the blood sugar level change during the day?

    Back in the middle of the 20th century, scientists conducted massive experiments. They pursued two goals – to establish the norm of sugar in a person without pathologies, in a patient with diabetes.

    Thousands of adults of different genders participated in the experiment, they just needed to pass certain tests.There are three types of them:

    1. measuring sugar level in the morning on an empty stomach;
    2. study, which was carried out 2 hours after eating;
    3. Determination of the amount of glycated hemoglobin.

    The standard blood sugar rate is recognized as a criterion that does not depend on the age, sex of a person.

    From the list above, it is easy to draw an unambiguous conclusion. The blood sugar content depends on the composition of the food taken.

    For a healthy person, it is considered normal when the value increases by 2.8 units after eating.But there are other criteria, there are a lot of them.

    The norm of sugar during the day in a healthy person and a diabetic

    Why control glucose if you feel good? Many people think so, but once all diabetics were healthy. It is important not to miss the onset of the disease, to prevent it from controlling your body and even life.

    For a healthy person, the following criteria for blood glucose are established:

    • on an empty stomach, in the morning hours – from 3.5 to 5.5 units;
    • before lunch, before dinner – from 3.8 to 6.1 units;
    • one hour after eating – less than 8.9 units;
    • 2 hours after eating – less than 6.7 units;
    • at night – less than 3.9 units.

    The normal value of sugar for a healthy adult is 5.5 units.

    When this value is exceeded for a certain time (several days), it is worth contacting an endocrinologist. The doctor should order an examination, with the help of which it will be easy to find out if there is any reason for concern. Sometimes prediabetic conditions are detected in this way.

    But everything is individual, other reasons can increase sugar. This happens in women, this indicator often exceeds the norm after childbirth (undoubtedly, being a great stress for the body) or during pregnancy.

    Alcohol should not be consumed before taking tests.

    The study in the clinic must be approached with all seriousness. There are special rules, they will have to be followed, because the exact result is important. The intake of alcoholic beverages is completely prohibited.

    It is necessary to stop consuming sweets within a day. The last meal is allowed at 6 pm. Before donating blood, you can only drink drinking water. However, it can also negatively affect the results.

    Studies sometimes reveal low blood sugar levels.This is evidence of the presence of abnormalities in the body. Most often, in this way, problems with the thyroid gland and the digestive system are manifested. Sometimes this is a sign of liver cirrhosis.


    For diabetics, doctors have established other norms:

    • in the morning on an empty stomach, blood sugar level – from 5 to 7.2 units;
    • after eating for two hours – less than 10 units.

    A hungry person has a low sugar level.After a meal, the blood glucose will be significantly higher. Normally, sugar should be absorbed 2 hours after eating.

    A completely different picture is observed in diabetics – their pancreas can no longer cope with the production of a sufficient portion of insulin. Sugar is not digestible.

    Diabetes affects the condition of many internal organs – the kidneys, the nervous system, vision decreases.

    What can influence the measurement results?

    Sometimes a perfectly healthy person has a sudden rise in blood sugar.When it comes to a pre-diabetic condition, which the doctor will identify with the help of research, it is worth seriously thinking about the lifestyle.

    The level of glucose in the blood is affected by alcohol consumption, smoking, nervous shocks, taking hormonal medications.

    Reasonable people in such cases quickly reconsider their attitude to life – get rid of bad habits, go in for sports.

    Constant stress at work is also not beneficial, if the increase in blood sugar is associated with this, it is worth looking for a calmer position for yourself.

    How many times a day should you measure your glucose level?

    Diabetes is afraid of this drug like fire!

    You just need to apply …

    Reducing sugar

    Learn more

    pozner.ru

    A new diabetic will have to study his body anew. He will need to determine at what work sugar rises significantly. This will allow avoiding critical conditions in the future.

    A glucose test is needed:

    1. immediately after a night’s sleep;
    2. before breakfast;
    3. two hours after the 1st meal;
    4. after 5 hours if insulin was injected before;
    5. before bedtime;
    6. when performing work related to risk, driving a car, the level of glycemia should be measured every hour;
    7. in case of stress, light hunger, work in production;
    8. during insomnia.

    The life of a diabetic is directly dependent on glucose levels. For this reason, this indicator must be kept under control.

    Rules for using the meter at home

    Lately, the life of diabetics has changed for the better. They can measure their own sugar using a glucometer.

    It cannot be said that the results of independent research are unambiguous. But being able to measure your blood glucose levels without going to a lab is impressive.

    Our fathers, grandfathers, suffering from diabetes, dreamed of such a device. Nevertheless, they need to be used skillfully, in strict accordance with all the instructions. Blood is drawn from the finger.

    All fingers are used (alternately), except for two – the index, thumb . Any droplet of moisture on the hands should be removed before starting the test. This is necessary to obtain a reliable result.

    It is not recommended to deeply pierce the pad of the finger; they do it off the center, slightly from the side.The blood is then applied to the test strip, but this depends on the model of the device. The result will be displayed on the screen, it takes just a few moments.

    Related videos

    Important to know! Problems with sugar levels over time can lead to a whole bunch of diseases, such as vision problems, skin and hair conditions, ulcers, gangrene and even cancerous tumors! People taught by bitter experience to normalize sugar levels use .