QUOTE: Red wine has been shown to protect people from heart disease, even when they follow a diet high in saturated fat, and the healing powers of tea are becoming the stuff of legend. Now, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have shown that these beverages may hold promise for regulating the blood sugar of people with type 2 diabetes...
Diabetes places a stress on the entire body by increasing the production of free radicals, including molecules that react with oxygen, which degrade cellular function. Both red wine and tea contain antioxidants with proven health benefits, and have the potential to manage heart disease, high blood pressure and perhaps contribute to the prevention of cancer, which are all linked to free radicals.
“These results provide strong evidence for further studying the use of wine and tea to manage some stages of type 2 diabetes using animal models and clinical studies, and point to the importance of an antioxidant-rich diet as part of an overall management strategy,�?says Shetty. “This concept is not new, but we are finding clear cellular targets for the functions of dietary polyphenolics. Using specific beverage combinations could generate a whole food profile that has the potential to manage type 2 diabetes and its complications, especially in the early stages.�? UNQUOTE.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402212428.htm
My comment: Of course, what we see here is perhaps the major problem in the context of preventing chronic disease by diet, that is, free radical damage/activity is recognized as the underlying cause or a huge factor, but "saturated fat" gets blamed, even though saturated fatty acids do not contribute to free radical activity or "inflammation," and in fact may serve to lessen it (depending upon the exact situation).
However, because "nutritional experts" classified food items such as lard as "saturated fat" (even though it is only about 40% saturated fatty acids, and therefore very subject to free radical attack, known as lipid peroxidation), there is such confusion that coconut oil, which is about 92% saturated fatty acids (and therefore is not problematic in the lipid peroxidation/free radical generation context), is classified as a "saturated fat" and also blamed for all kinds of ill health.
Of course, if this were true, Asian nations on coconut rich diets would have huge rates of heart disease, diabetes, etc., when in fact the opposite is the case (until they start consuming diets rich in unsaturated fatty acids, which are a huge problem, especially in the form of highly refined oils that are then used to cook with while exposed to air). |
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