Diabetes Diet: Avocados May Prevent Or Delay Diabetes

You can manage diabetes to a great extent by monitoring your diet; it turns out that eating avocados may keep diabetes at bay.

Including avocados in your diet may help delay the development of diabetes. Diabetes is currently one of the biggest health concerns around the world. It is characterised by fluctuations in blood sugar levels. You can manage diabetes to a great extent by monitoring your diet; it turns out that eating avocados may keep diabetes at bay. The finding of the study was published in the journal -- Molecular Nutrition and Food Research. The new research led by Prof. Paul Spagnuolo has shown how a compound found only in the fruit can inhibit cellular processes that normally lead to diabetes.

In safety testing in humans, it was also revealed that the substance was absorbed into the blood with no negative effects on the kidney, liver or muscle. Insulin resistance prevents your system to properly remove glucose from the blood. These complications may arise when mitochondria, or the energy powerhouses in the body's cells, are unable to burn fatty acids completely.

Normally, fatty acid oxidation allows the body to burn fats. Obesity or diabetes hinders that process, further leading to incomplete oxidation. The U of G researchers discovered that avocation B (AvoB), a fat molecule found only in avocados, counters incomplete oxidation in skeletal muscle and the pancreas to reduce insulin resistance.

The team fed mice high-fat diets for eight weeks to induce obesity and insulin resistance. For the next five weeks, they added AvoB to the high-fat diets of half of the mice.

It was found that the treated mice weighed significantly less than those in the control group, showing slower weight gain.

More important, said Spagnuolo, the treated mice showed greater insulin sensitivity, meaning that their bodies were able to absorb and burn blood glucose and improve their response to insulin.

In a human clinical study, it was found that AvoB given as a dietary supplement to participants eating a typical western diet was absorbed safely into their blood without affecting the kidney, liver or skeletal muscle.

Interestingly, the team also observed nominal weight loss in human subjects, although Spagnuolo said the result was not statistically significant.

Having demonstrated its safety in humans, the team is planning to run clinical trials to test AvoB's effectiveness in treating metabolic ailments in people.

Article published on NDTV Food, here