Eating a balanced, nutritious diet can be just as important to staying healthy as making sure you are exercising enough. In fact, some foods have been shown to have powerful effects, including leafy greens or mushrooms. However, a new study found that eating a surprising food twice a week can help lower your risk of developing diabetes. Read on to see what to pick up at the grocery store next time.
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In a new study from Spain published in the journal Clinical Nutrition, 152 patients aged 65 and over who were diagnosed with prediabetic were enrolled in nutritional programs to avoid the disease. One group received 200 grams of sardines – or about two cans – every week as part of their regime and recommended eating the fish whole without removing the vitamin D and calcium-rich bones.
After one year, the 27 percent of patients without sardines in their diet saw a high risk of developing diabetes, up from 22 percent. In the group of sardine eaters, the 37 percent of patients at high risk of diabetes fell to 8 percent over the same period.
“As well as being inexpensive and easy to find, sardines are safe and help prevent type 2 diabetes from occurring. This is a great scientific discovery. It is easy to recommend this food to medical research , And that’s it.” widely accepted by the population ” Diana Diaz Rizzolo, PhD, the lead author and lecturer and researcher of the study at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), said in a statement.
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The study found that the group who included sardines in their nutritional program saw health benefits in addition to the risk of diabetes dropping. The researchers also saw decreased triglyceride and blood pressure levels, a decrease in the insulin resistance index, and increases in “good” cholesterol and a hormone that helps break down glucose known as adiponectin.
And the benefits of a sardine diet may not be limited to just those at risk. “As we get older, restrictive diets (in terms of calories or food groups) can help prevent the onset of diabetes. However, the cost-benefit ratio isn’t always positive, as we’ve found in other studies,” said Rizzolo . “However, the results suggest that we can achieve an equally significant preventive effect in the younger population.”
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However, the research team was also quick to point out that taking dietary supplements, which are short for calcium, vitamin D, omega-3s, and taurine found in foods like sardines, doesn’t necessarily bring the same benefits. “Nutrients can play an essential role in the prevention and treatment of many different pathologies, but their effects are usually caused by the synergy between them and the foods in which they are contained,” explained Rizzolo.
“Sardines will therefore have a protective element because they are rich in the above nutrients, whereas nutrients taken in isolation in the form of dietary supplements will not work as well,” she added.
However, including lots of fish in your diet not only reduces your risk of diabetes. A new study by the American Academy of Neurology, published May 5 in the journal Neurology, found that a Mediterranean diet, usually made up of extra virgin olive oil, nuts, seeds, fish, and herbs, also increases your cognitive levels Can improve health.
After comparing 343 people at high risk of Alzheimer’s disease with 169 people who were not predisposed to the disease, the results showed that a Mediterranean diet is a “protective factor against memory loss”.
“Our study suggests that a diet high in unsaturated fats, fish, fruits and vegetables, and low in dairy products and red meat can actually protect your brain from the protein buildup that can lead to memory loss and dementia,” he said Author of the study Tommaso Ballarini, PhD from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), it says in a statement.
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