Prospective Study of Sugar and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Women.
Don’t you just love articles that throw a wrench in the works of what we commonly believe? Personally, I find that I really have to think more precisely in defending beliefs I have obtained in my research when articles such as this arise. Basically, these researchers found no association between sugar intake and Type 2 diabetes. Looking at the full text, no real taboos jumpted out at me (funding by major companies, poor approximation of sugar intake by dietary questionnaires, small sample size…); however, I do have a few comments. First, this study looked only at 6 years. My feelings are that diabetes develops over decades of poor dietary choices–initially the body can adapt and keep up w/ poor lifestyle choices but ultimately fails with time. Second, this study relied on the ability of study participants to recall generally what that had eaten in the past. This leads to all sorts of potential errors and does not have the power to differentiate whole grains from refined carbs. Maybe the whole grains were protective enough to override the detrimental effects of refined carbs in a group this size. We just can’t tell from this study. My recommendation–continue to avoid processed sugars like the plague.
Dia Care — Abstracts: Janket et al. 26 (4): 1008