LOS ANGELES, Apr 7, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Reducing sugar by one can of soda
and increasing fiber by one-half cup of beans per day may protect Latino teens
from type 2 diabetes, U.S. researchers say.
Emily Ventura of the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California,
Los Angeles and colleagues conducted a 16-week study to examine if reductions in
added sugar intake or increases in fiber intake would affect risk factors for
developing type 2 diabetes in 54 overweight Latino adolescents -- average age
15.5.
Fifty-five percent of participants decreased their sugar intake equal to the
sugar in one can of soda and 59 percent increased their fiber intake by an
average of 5 grams per day, or one-half cup of beans across all intervention
groups, including controls.
The study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, finds
that participants who decreased their sugar intake had an average 33 percent
decrease in insulin secretion and those who increased their fiber intake had an
average 10 percent reduction in visceral adipose tissue volume.
"A reduction in visceral fat indicates a reduction in risk for type 2 diabetes,
considering that to a greater degree than total body fat, visceral fat -- fat
surrounding the internal organs -- has been shown to be negatively associated
with insulin sensitivity," the authors says in a statement.
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