Shutterstock/V
isual^ Gener
ationTYPE 2
DIABETES
RISK FROM
LOW GLUTEN
By Van Waffle
D
ata from three large stud-
ies found that healthy
American adults who eat
less gluten have a higher
risk for Type 2 diabetes. It is
already known that people
who adopt a gluten-free diet
sometimes miss out on dietary
fiber, B vitamins, iron and
calcium. This research also
found they had a lower intake
of folic acid and magnesium
and a less-healthy diet overall.
A normal, gluten-containing
diet may be healthier in the
long run for people without
gluten sensitivity.
The data came from
dietary questionnaires com-
pleted by health care workers
for their own eating habits
every other year beginning
as early as 1984 until 2013.
It included about 202,
healthy participants. Gluten
consumption was estimated
based on the foods they con-
sumed. During follow-up,
15,947 individuals developed
Type 2 diabetes. The risk for
diabetes was strongly and
inversely proportionate to
gluten consumption.
The reason for this pattern
is unclear. Gluten itself prob-
ably does not protect people
from diabetes. A diet low in
gluten, besides lacking certain
nutrients, may reduce benefi-
cial bacteria in the intestine. It
could also increase absorption
of carbohydrates, straining
the body’s ability to stabilize
blood sugar. INDIVIDUALIZED DIET MAY BE BEST FOR
BLOOD GLUCOSE CONTROL, STUDY FINDS
By Quinn Phillips
S
ources of health information related
to diabetes—including this publica-
tion—often give prescriptive advice when
it comes to diet: Eat this; don’t eat this. And
sometimes, the science on a given food or
ingredient is clear enough that these blanket
statements make sense.
But in other cases, there are reasons to
doubt that it makes sense to give everyone the
same advice. One of these areas is how certain
foods affect blood glucose levels, as shown in
a recent study by Mayo Clinic researchers.Tracking blood glucose and more
Published in February 2019 in the jour-
nal JAMA Network Open, the study involved
327 adult participants without diabetes from
Minnesota and Florida. Each participant
wore a continuous glucose monitor (CGM)
for six days and logged his or her food intake
and physical activity.
Four standardized breakfasts were provided
to all participants, which allowed the research-
ers to compare how each reacted to exactly the
same meal. For other meals, participants were
told to eat as they would normally.
Two days before the main phase of thestudy, each participant provided a stool
sample that the researchers analyzed for its
bacterial content to create a profile of the
person’s gut microbiome.Looking for patterns
As noted in a Mayo Clinic press release, the
researchers used CGM readings along with
other data—including participants’ gut micro-
biome, age, diet and physical activity—to cre-
ate a predictive model of how blood glucose
levels would respond to a given food or meal
in a specific person.
This model was found to predict glu-
cose responses correctly 62 percent of the
time, on average. In contrast, using only
the carbohydrate content of foods to pre-
dict a person’s glucose response worked
40 percent of the time, and using foods’
calorie content worked only 32 percent
of the time.
Based on these results, it’s clear that a
number of factors affect how your blood
glucose level reacts to a given food—and
that over time, researchers may be able to
find ways to more accurately predict this
response on an individual basis. NEWS &
NOTES
6 May/June 2019