Health researchers agree that the way a body reacts to food will decide whether a person contracts diabetes.
A Saskatoon conference sponsored by Ag-West Bio Inc. April 24-25 examined the link between obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol and type 2 (acquired) diabetes.
University of Saskatchewan medical professor Dr. Bernhard Juurlink said glucose is the major fuel of cells. It is produced from the food people eat and regulated by insulin produced by their pancreas.
As people age, their body’s ability to balance insulin and glucose levels diminishes. Diabetes occurs when the pancreas becomes less able to produce insulin in the quantities needed to move sugar from the blood stream to muscles and cells.
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Instead of delivering sugar evenly through the day, the body deals with spikes and falls, much like an untuned engine becomes clogged and reacts by sputtering.
The result in people is increased weight, particularly around the waist, and impaired heart and arteries as cholesterol and blood pressure build. People become prone to diabetes if they don’t do something to change this situation.
It is a growing problem around the world as people eat overprocessed food and don’t exercise.
Diabetes-related costs in Canada were $13.2 million in 2005, and the problem is appearing in more people. Even more serious, it is showing up in children.
Conference organizer Dr. Lisette Mascarenhas is vice-president of health and nutrition for Ag-West Bio, a Saskatoon economic development company using plant-based solutions. She said the conference showed how people can prevent diabetes rather than look to drugs to alleviate it after they get it.
“There is no cure for diabetes,” she said.
Despite the increase in the amount of food processed and better nutritional knowledge, the rate of diabetes is still rising, Mascarenhas said. If people are too busy to cook traditional, wholesome meals, she said, the food industry must help.
Prairie farmers can be part of the answer because they grow the grain and pulse crops that nutritionists say are the best food to eat to smooth out the rate at which sugar enters the blood.
This fall, Ag West Bio will invite food companies to discuss how to deal with the global need to reduce diabetes by incorporating healthful food ingredients in their products.
People know they become overweight because they eat too much and don’t move enough, said notes prepared for the conference by Dr. Peter Zahradka of the Canadian Centre for Agrifood Research in Health and Medicine in Winnipeg.
However, Canadians are not adjusting their lifestyle and instead seem content to wait for science to develop drugs to deal with their health problems.
Another presenter, Rick Stene of the Saskatoon Health Region, said it is not enough to eat less because normal weight people have the same risk of developing type 2
diabetes as overweight individuals who are physically active.
The trouble with diabetes is that it affects other organs as well, making people more likely to have heart attacks and kidney problems.
Two researchers offered positive news about diabetes.
Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy of the University of Toronto said genetic factors can determine whether or how quickly one develops the symptoms leading to diabetes.
Women’s early environment can influence whether their children and grandchildren reach for broccoli. Food taste preferences can be based in DNA rather than on childhood food encounters.
El-Sohemy is researching the variability in individuals in their response to food and how that affects their health.
“If you’re one of those people who reacts in the opposite manner to the average, would you like to know? And would you like to get nutritional recommendations fitted for yourself?”
However, El-Sohemy noted it might be 10 to 20 years before companies can offer diet recommendations based on a person’s genetic profile because “we’re dealing with subtle effects and complex food.”
U of T professor Dr. Thomas Wolever said certain food with a low glycemic index (GI) can improve a body’s insulin response and prevent blood sugar fluctuations.
These foods tend to be high fibre whole grain and pulses such as peas, beans and lentils. Including these in their diet means people don’t have to drop categories of food such as carbohydrates, fat or protein because the body works best with a mixed diet.
“Don’t fear potatoes,” Wolever said.
He noted that cooling a baked potato
reduces its GI number, making cold potato salad a better food than hot mashed potatoes.
Wolever also suggested food manufacturers could help people choose healthier food by listing its GI level on the label.
