Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 31, 1994 TAG: 9406010002
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jane Brody
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Forty-two patients with Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes participated in the study, which was directed by researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The results were published in the May 11 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Participants consumed all their meals at one of four medical centers, which carefully controlled the amount and kinds of fats consumed as well as the calories and carbohydrates.
For part of the study, participants ate a diet deriving 55 percent of calories from carbohydrates and 30 percent from fats. In another part of the study, the same number of calories were consumed daily, but monounsaturated fat in the form of olive oil contributed 45 percent of calories and carbohydrates provided only 40 percent of calories.
Patients followed each of the diets for six weeks, then remained on the second diet they tested for eight more weeks.
On both diets, levels of the so-called bad cholesterol - LDL, or low-density-lipoprotein, cholesterol - were similar. But, according to Dr. Abhimanyu Garg, who directed the study, the diet high in monounsaturated fat produced lower blood levels of triglycerides, glucose and insulin, changes that he said ``should potentially reduce the risk of coronary heart disease in patients with adult-onset diabetes.''
He said the favorable changes persisted, and were not merely temporary responses to a dietary change.
In planning a diet for patients with diabetes, Garg said, the first step is to determine the person's caloric needs and then replace foods high in saturated and polyunsaturated fats with those rich in monounsaturates, such as olive, canola and peanut oils and oils from avocados and some nuts.
Other diabetes specialists, however, questioned the practicality of this approach.
Dr. Elliot Danforth, who has just become a professor emeritus at the University of Vermont, said that for most people with diabetes, ``overweight is the biggest problem and fats are where most calories hide.''
``By reducing fat, calories automatically come down and weight control is easier,'' Danforth said. ``Three-fourths of patients with Type 2 diabetes who lose some weight can get off insulin.''
As for the potential benefits of mono-unsaturates, he is taking a wait-and-see approach. ``The research is interesting, but we have to see what will come of it,'' he said. ``We told people decades ago to eat margarine instead of butter, and now that advice turns out to be highly questionable.''
Marion Franz, director of nutrition at the International Diabetes Center in Minneapolis, pointed out that a high-fat diet reduced the amount of food a person could eat. ``Such a diet does not have a high satiety value, and people may end up consuming too many calories,'' she said.
- New York Times
by CNB