These Breakfast Items May Be Linked To Type 2 Diabetes

Leah Groth
·4 min read
23

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 37 million Americans have diabetes—that's about 1 in 10. Approximately 90-95 percent of those suffer from Type 2 diabetes, the most preventable form of the disease.

While it’s common knowledge that diet is the biggest contributing factor to the health condition, a new study has pinpointed the exact foods that are most commonly responsible for driving the Type 2 diabetes epic globally. And it’s likely that they are on your breakfast plate.

The Ingredients Associated With Type 2 Diabetes

Researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University assembled a model of dietary intake in 184 countries, looking at data from 1990 and 2018. They found that poor diet contributed to 14.1 cases, or 70 percent of all new diagnoses, globally. Their findings were published in the medical journal Nature Medicine.

“Out of the 11 dietary influences, three had the greatest contribution: Insufficient whole grains, excess refined rice and wheat, and the overconsumption of processed meat,” explains Julia Zumpano RD, LD, a registered dietitian at Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Human Nutrition, who was not involved in the study. In other words: Bread, bacon, sausage and sugar breakfast cereals.

Surprisingly, other dietary habits commonly associated with Type 2 diabetes—including overconsumption of fruit juice and underconsumption of non-starchy vegetables, nuts or seeds—didn’t impact the development of the condition quite as much.

Related: Here's How Many Carbs You Need to Eat to Live Longer

“Our study suggests poor carbohydrate quality is a leading driver of diet-attributable Type 2 diabetes globally, and with important variation by nation and over time,” senior author Dariush Mozaffarian, Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition and dean for policy at the Friedman School, states in a press release accompanying the study “These new findings reveal critical areas for national and global focus to improve nutrition and reduce devastating burdens of diabetes.”

Zumpano is “not surprised” by the findings. “In my practice, I find that this is the case with many of my patients and is reflective of the Standard American Diet (SAD),” she says. “Most Americans rely on convenience foods due to lack of time or desire to prepare meals, grocery shop or meal plan/prep. Ordering in, eating out, fast food, frozen prepared meals, and consuming canned foods and sandwiches (which often include processed meats and refined bread) are of abundance in the SAD.”

What Should We Be Eating?

Jackie Newgent, RDN, CDN, plant-forward culinary nutritionist and author of The Plant-Based Diabetes Cookbook, explains that these findings point to the importance of getting “plenty of health-protective nutrients to potentially help ward off Type 2 diabetes.”

“The results of this study add to the body of research that finds better diet quality is associated with better health,” she says. This doesn’t mean you need to completely eliminate certain foods. “However, it does mean that, for instance, you want to enjoy whole grains far more often than refined grains, not the other way around,” she explains.

Related: Research Says This 'Low-Carb Mediterranean' Way of Eating Is Actually the Best Diet for Heart Health—Here's What That Means

Examples of refined rice and wheat products include white bread, pastries, most sugary cereal, and even non-sugary types like Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes and Crispix.

“Refined grains lead to quickly elevated blood sugars. Which can stimulate carbohydrate cravings and lead to overconsumption, which equals consistently elevated blood sugar values,” says Zumpano.

Both Newgent and Zumpano point out that it isn’t necessarily the refined grains themselves that contribute to health issues, but has more to do with the fact that people are eating them instead of whole grains.

“Whole grains contain fiber and some protein which slow down the rise of blood sugar, leading to better-controlled blood sugars when consumed daily. They also tend to be more filling and lead to more controlled consumption,” Zumpano adds. Newgent also points out that when people eat refined grains instead of whole grains, they are getting less naturally-occurring plant nutrients.

Next up: If You Want to Drop a Few Pounds—or Maintain a Healthy Weight—Add These Complex Carbs to Your Diet ASAP

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