There’s another reason for adding more fiber to your diet, this time from cereal:

People in a German study who ate the most cereal fiber enjoyed a 27-percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes, the most common – and growing – kind of the condition, than those participants who ate the least. But fiber from fruits and veggies is a different story.

And those folks who consumed the most magnesium – a trace mineral in grain products – scored a 23-percent lower risk of developing the condition than people who took in the least amount of the nutrient, according to the study at the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke.

Reducing sugar spikes?

According to the American Diabetes Association, the number of people around the world who’ll get type 2 diabetes may rise from 171 million in 2000 to as many as 370 million within the next 30 years – an increase many health experts blame on growing obesity.

Just in the United States alone, nearly 21 million people – 7 percent of the population – have diabetes, mostly the type 2 kind, and 6.2 million of them don’t know it, association figures indicate.

Fiber may help reduce the risk of diabetes by increasing the amount of nutrients absorbed by the body and reducing blood sugar spikes after eating. The diabetes association guidelines include goals for total fiber intake, but research suggests that some types of fiber may be more beneficial than others.

Findings regarding magnesium and diabetes risk remain unclear.

Dr. Matthias B. Schulze, the chief researcher, said his team tried to clear up the confusion  by studying the diets of more than 25,000 people 35 to 65 for seven years.

During that period, 844 of the participants developed type 2 diabetes. After figuring into their findings other potential factors on diabetes, Schulze’s team concluded the only other reason was the amount of fiber cereal the participants ate regularly.

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According to the findings, those people who consumed more fiber through cereal, bread and other grain products were less likely to develop diabetes than those who ate less fiber.

But when researchers looked at the types of fiber, they found that people who ate the most cereal fiber – about 17 grams a day – were 27 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes compared to people who consumed the least, or seven grams a day.

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As for the effects of magnesium, Schulze cautioned that their findings are based on how much of the nutrient participants got in their diets, not from supplement pills. Green vegetables, such as spinach, and almonds, cashews and other nuts are good sources of magnesium.

 “The evidence from our study and previous studies strongly supports that higher cereal fiber and magnesium intake may decrease diabetes risk," Schulze and his team wrote, in the latest Archives of Internal Medicine. "Whole-grain foods are therefore important in diabetes prevention."

Fruits, veggies still important

But much to the chagrin of fruit and vegetable fans, Schulze could find no effect on diabetes in people in the study who consumed large amounts of fiber from the healthy foods.

Ann Albright, a top leader with the American Diabetes Association, said she’s intrigued by the findings about cereal fiber being better than fiber from fruits or vegetables.

“But I don't think we should take away the idea that fruits and vegetables are not important," she said.

Albright also noted that the German study didn’t include anything about physical activity’s effect on diabetes risk, which other studies have shown may drop when people exercise.

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"So, the take-home messages are that people do need to keep their weight in a healthy range," she said. "And fiber intake is a major component of a healthy diet."

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The study was paid for by German government and health organizations, and didn’t include industry funding.

The findings come on the heals of research at Wake Forest University’s medical school in Winston-Salem, N.C., that showed a diet high in whole-grian foods is linked to a significantly lower risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases.

This article includes information from HealthDay.

Source: American Medical Association
Reference: Archives of Internal Medicine

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