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…announces an article at Reuters.  An excerpt:

Ajala and her colleagues reviewed the results of 20 studies comparing the effect of seven popular diets on adults with type 2 diabetes. Mediterranean diets, low-carb diets, high-protein diets and low glycemic index diets – which rank foods by how quickly their carbs turn into glucose – all lowered participants’ blood sugar.

After following the diet for at least six months, the people on a Mediterranean eating plan also lost an average of 4 pounds. No other diet had a significant impact on weight, according to the findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“We were quite surprised by the Mediterranean diet in particular,” Ajala said. “I would have thought that low-carb would have been the best for losing weight, but Mediterranean seems to be better.”

Here’s the traditional healthy Mediterranean diet.

The researchers also found that HDL cholesterol (“good cholesterol) and triglycerides improved on the Mediterranean diet, low-carb diet, and low glycemic index diets.  Those moves tend to protect against heart disease.

He eats no more than 50-60 grams daily of total (not net or digestible) carbohydrates.  For example:

“Breakfast: Two poached eggs, 4 oz. of smoked wild salmon with capers added, and a little kimchi or sauerkraut.

Lunch: A large salad consisting of baby greens (including spinach and, when available, kale), bok choy, broccoli, and natto. For salad dressing I use apple cider vinegar and either extra virgin olive oil or extra virgin coconut oil. Sometimes the salad will also have green onions, green peppers, a small avocado, a can of sardines, mackerel, abalone, or salmon, a little hard cheese, a little summer squash, cucumber or radish slices, or a few pitted green olives. I always add a sprinkling of chia seeds.

Dinner: This is the meal that varies a lot. Sometimes it’s just a bowl of plain whole yogurt with a few organic blueberries (or organic raspberries when I can’t get the blueberries I prefer) and a sprinkling of chia seeds. Often instead it is a quarter pound of fish; wild ahi tuna is my favorite, but wild salmon is the healthiest, because of its high omega-3 level. Rarely it is beef, and only if it is grass-fed.”

…in Finland, according to Diabetes Care.  The association is not dramatic.

…according to a new report in Diabetes Care.  Additionally, brain functioning was adversely affected. The next question is: Would prevention or reversal of insulin resistance preserve the brain?  Stay tuned.

(Only a few of the study participants had diabetes.)

“Low-carbohydrate, low-GI, Mediterranean, and high-protein diets are effective in improving various markers of cardiovascular risk in people with diabetes and should be considered in the overall strategy of diabetes management.”

…according to a review of diabetic diets in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

I’ve heard anecdotal reports of this for years.  Here’s scientific evidence, although only eight patients were studied.

Frequent episodes of heartburn is a condition called GERD: gastroesophageal reflux disease.  Tell your doctor your symptoms and you’re likely to get a prescription for a proton pump inhibitor drug.

h/t Melissa McEwan

It’s a DPP-4 inhibitor, a class with three other drugs in the U.S.  The brand name in the U.S. is Nesina.  It can be used with other drugs such as metformin and pioglitazone.  The FDA’s press release of Jan. 25 has a little more info.

From Bix at Fanatic Cook:

“Everyone reading this likely has dozens of chemicals in their bodies that their grandparents did not have. And what we eat has a profound impact on our body burden. In particular, processed foods and animal foods (fish, meat, eggs, and dairy), especially fatty versions, present the greatest chemical exposure. 

It’s not far-fetched to think that the increase in metabolic and endocrine disorders (obesity and diabetes are two) is linked to the chemical revolution of the last half century. Yet in the years I’ve been reading about this link, very little has emerged in the media.”

I’m not sure what to think about this issue other than to admit I need to pay it more attention if and when time allows.  Despite man-made chemicals in us, we’re living much longer than our grandparents.  Is that despite the chemicals and thanks to advances in medical care and technology?  Or do the chemicals to more good than harm?