Staff of Life

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" HSI - Jenny Thompson " <HSIResearch

 

Staff of Life

Mon, 15 Nov 2004 08:40:10 -0500

 

Staff of Life

 

Health Sciences Institute e-Alert

 

November 15, 2004

 

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Dear Reader,

 

A doctor once recommended bread to aid the digestive tract.

 

That doctor was the Greek father of medicine, Hippocrates, who

recognized the nutritional value of fiber, bran, vitamins and

minerals found in stone-ground flour. Needless to say, none of the

bread of Hippocrates' time resembled today's commercial white

bread, which was first developed about a century ago.

 

In the past 100 years, widespread consumption of white bread has

done nobody any good. And as two new studies show, your choice

of bread may have a lot to do with whether or not you become

overweight or develop type 2 diabetes.

 

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Culprit caught

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Researchers at the Cancer Council in Victoria, Australia, didn't set

out to study bread. The original scope of their study was designed

to examine associations between type 2 diabetes risk and the intake

of different kinds of food. The foods were evaluated by using the

glycemic index (GI).

 

In the e-Alert " So Five Minutes Ago " (2/23/04), I told you how

foods that are classified as low GI (such as most fruits and

vegetables) prompt a slow increase in blood sugar levels, while

high GI foods (such as processed baked goods and starchy foods)

produce a quick spike in blood sugar levels. A steady intake of

high GI foods promotes a gradual insensitivity to insulin – the

precursor of type 2 diabetes.

 

As reported in the journal Diabetes Care, the Australian team

studied the medical records and eating habits of more than 36,700

men and women over a period of four years. The subjects' ages

ranged from 40 to 69 years at the outset of the study, and none had

been diagnosed with diabetes.

 

More than 360 cases of type 2 diabetes were identified by the end

of the study period. The data confirmed that a diet with a high GI

rating was associated with an elevated risk of diabetes. More

specifically, the researchers singled out white bread as the one

food most strongly related to the development of diabetes.

 

The researchers wrote that diabetes risk might be reduced by

cutting white bread products from the diet, and replacing them

with breads that have lower GI ratings.

 

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Whole grain, plus something extra

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As I've pointed out in other e-Alerts, many of the whole grain

breads that line grocery store shelves consist of mostly white bread

with a little coloring added to give them a whole grain look. And

according to a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical

Nutrition, it's well worth your time to read nutrition panels

carefully to make sure the bread you buy is genuinely whole grain.

 

A research team lead by the Harvard School of Public Health used

periodic questionnaires to follow the dietary habits of more than

27,000 men for eight years. The subjects measured and reported

body weight at the beginning and end of the study. Unlike the

Australian study, this research specifically examined the intake of

whole-grain, bran and cereal fiber.

 

The Harvard team found that subjects who consumed the most

whole grains tended to have the lowest weight gain. This

association held true even when added bran or fiber intakes

fluctuated. So while it's not a surprise that whole grains would turn

out to be a healthier choice than highly processed flour products,

the researchers concluded that " additional components in whole

grains may contribute to favorable metabolic alterations that may

reduce long-term weight gain. "

 

In other words, the value of whole grain food may go well beyond

the positive benefits of good fiber intake. Which probably would

come as no surprise to Hippocrates.

 

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Checking the index

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In addition to helping regulate weight, true whole grain breads also

contain enough fiber to inhibit blood sugar spikes. That's why

whole grains tend to rate low on the glycemic index. And there's

one more clear advantage to choosing a genuine whole grain bread

over a white bread: Whole grains don't trigger carbohydrate

cravings.

 

This is one of the worst aspects about foods with a high GI: They

actually make you hungrier than foods with a low GI. As a result,

you end up eating more. And if the foods you're eating more of are

high GI, you're caught in a vicious cycle that can only lead to

weight gain and all of the other problems that come tagging along

as the pounds increase.

 

The solution is to become aware of the GI value of the foods you

eat, and a web site operated by the University of Sydney now

makes that very easy to do. The site (glycemicindex.com) provides

a GI Database where you can search for the glycemic index of

different types of food. The slight drawback for those of us in the

U.S. is that the database is sometimes specific about brand names,

which are mostly Australian and European. Nevertheless, the

database still offers an excellent guide for making low GI dietary

choices.

 

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....and another thing

 

For those who wish to kick heartburn or acid reflux without using

expensive and dangerous drugs, I have one more detail to add to

last Thursday's e-Alert " Sweet Relief " (11/11/04).

 

HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., notes that sometimes the

combination of acidophilus and digestive enzymes isn't enough to

treat the problem, or there may be stomach trouble due to LOW

acid, which can weaken the stomach's defenses and set the stage

for potential ulcers.

 

For these cases, Dr. Spreen offers this suggestion: " I add DGL, a

form of licorice that has one component removed (DGL means De-

Glycerrhizinated Licorice). I use Enzymatic Therapy brand but

there are other good ones. Chewing or sucking on one 20 minutes

before eating can be very helpful in difficult cases. Avoiding

refined sugar and white flour products also seems to help. "

 

Avoiding white flour products? Hmmm. Where have I heard that

one before?

 

To Your Good Health,

 

Jenny Thompson

Health Sciences Institute

 

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Sources:

" Glycemic Index and Dietary Fiber and the Risk of Type 2

Diabetes " Diabetes Care, Vol. 27, No. 11, 11/27/04,

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

" White Bread Linked to Diabetes " CBS News, 11/5/04,

cbsnews.com

" Changes in Whole-Grain, Bran, and Cereal Fiber consumption in

Relation to 8-Y Weight Gain Among Men " American Journal of

Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 80, No. 5, November 2004, ajcn.org

" Wholegrains Strongly Associated With Keeping Weight Off "

NutraIngredients.com, 11/8/04, nutraingredients.com

 

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