According t to the World Health Organization, Diabetes, in 2019, “diabetes and kidney disease due to diabetes caused an estimated 2 million deaths.” “A healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco use are ways to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.”
The Mayo Clinic says that “it’s a common myth that if you have diabetes you shouldn’t eat certain foods because they’re ”too sweet.’ Some fruits do contain more sugar than others, but that doesn’t mean you can’t eat them if you have diabetes.”
Here’s the compelling science-backed health data that I’ve found so far. Please let me know if I’ve made any mistakes so I can remove or correct the incorrect sections.
Table of Contents
Diabetes
Key Takeaways
- Every 100g/day of “…higher fruit intake was associated with 2.8% lower risk of diabetes…” but not showing significant improvements for pre-diabetic patients.
- “…fruit consumption mitigates the risk of type 2 diabetes. …appropriate fruit intake reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes…”
- “…normoglycemia individuals had a 48.6% lower risk of diabetes when consuming fruits > 7 times/week…”
- “…whole fruits, particularly blueberries, grapes, and apples, is significantly associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas greater consumption of fruit juice is associated with a higher risk.“
- Can you lower the risk of getting diabetes while pregnant? “The findings suggest that higher fruit consumption may reduce the risk of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, with a 3% reduction in the risk of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus for every 100 g/d increase in fruit intake.“
- “…carefully planned vegan diets can be more nutritious than diets based on more conventional diet guidelines…comparable with that of other therapeutic regimens.”
- “…calorie-restricted vegetarian diet had greater capacity to improve insulin sensitivity compared with a conventional diabetic diet…”
Fruit – Fruit Risk to Diabetes
- Whole Fruit Risk [2023, Mar]
A Nation-wide Cohort Study of: 79,922 individual subjects aged 40 or older.
This study had an average follow rate of 3.8 years, and found that “Each 100 g/d higher fruit intake was associated with 2.8% lower risk of diabetes, majorly benefiting [normal glucose] subjects with 15.2% lower risk, while not significant in prediabetes.” And that “[t]hese findings suggest that higher frequency and amount of fresh fruit intake may protect against incident T2D, especially in [normal glucose tolerance indivisulals], but not in prediabetes, highlighting the dietary recommendation of higher fresh fruit consumption to prevent T2D in normoglycemia population.”
“Similarly, the inverse association was present in normoglycemia individuals with a 48.6% lower risk of diabetes when consuming fruits > 7 times/week comparing to those < 1 time/week, but not in prediabetes.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9941276
- Fruit & Fruit Juice Risk [2021, Oct]
A Review Study of: peer reviewed medical and scientific articles & literature.
“In conclusion, this study has shown that fruit consumption mitigates the risk of type 2 diabetes. The finding that appropriate fruit intake reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes is useful knowledge for healthy individuals also. A low level of fructose consumption does not affect circulating glucose concentration and dietary fiber prevents postprandial hyperglycemia; therefore, the consumption of dietary fiber and a small amount of fructose may help to prevent type 2 diabetes. Further studies are required to understand why fruit juice does not reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and to investigate whether fruit intake is useful for maintaining good glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. Biting into an apple may be protective against type 2 diabetes.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8504907/
- Fruit & Fruit Juice Risk [2013, Jul]
A Meta Review Study of: 187,382 subjects over 3,464,641 person-years of follow-up (roughly 18 years).
This meta-study showed that “[g]reater consumption of specific whole fruits, particularly blueberries, grapes, and apples, is significantly associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas greater consumption of fruit juice is associated with a higher risk.”
https://bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f5001
- Whole Fruit Risk During Pregnancy [2023, May]
A Systematic Review & Meta-analysis of: 12 studies with 32,794 participants.
* GDM = Gestational Diabetes Mellitus
“The findings suggest that higher fruit consumption may reduce the risk of GDM, with a 3% reduction in the risk of GDM for every 100 g/d increase in fruit intake. Higher-quality prospective studies or randomized clinical trials are required to validate the effect of different variations of fruits, vegetables, and fruit juice consumption on the risk of GDM.”
https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12937-023-00855-8
Type 2 Diabetes & A Plant-Based Diet
- Vegan Diet & Lifestyle [2010, Apr]
A Review Study of: cohort and placebo controlled trials on more than 60,000 subjects.
“These studies have also shown that carefully planned vegan diets can be more nutritious than diets based on more conventional diet guidelines, with an acceptability that is comparable with that of other therapeutic regimens. Current intervention guidelines from professional organizations offer support for this approach. Vegetarian and vegan diets present potential advantages in managing type 2 diabetes that merit the attention of individuals with diabetes and their caregivers.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20425575/
- Vegetarian Diet & Lifestyle [2011, May]
A Randomized Controlled Trial of: 74 subjects.
This 24-week, randomized, open, parallel design trial of 74 patients with Type 2 diabetes concludes that “[a] calorie-restricted vegetarian diet had greater capacity to improve insulin sensitivity compared with a conventional diabetic diet over 24 weeks. The greater loss of visceral fat and improvements in plasma concentrations of adipokines and oxidative stress markers with this diet may be responsible for the reduction of insulin resistance.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21480966/