Compared to a low-fat
diet, eating fish and olive oil improved health
Eating a fish-rich diet
may help counteract some bad effects of having a genetic variant linked to
diabetes, a new study suggests.
A common variation of
the gene called TCF7L2 has been linked to higher risk of type
2 diabetes. The variant, known as the T form, may also raise the risk of heart
disease and stroke, but studies have had mixed results. Part of the uncertainty
may stem from people’s diets, a study published August 13 in Diabetes Care suggests.
Researchers analyzed data from more than 7,000 people who were assigned to eat one of three diets for seven years: a low-fat diet or one of two Mediterranean diets — one heavy in fish, olive oil and complex carbohydrates such as whole grains, or one that emphasized nuts instead of oil.
People with two copies
of the gene’s T form who stuck to either Mediterranean diet had lower blood
sugar levels than did people with the same genetic risk who ate the low-fat
diet. And the Mediterranean diet erased any genetic discrepancy in stroke risk.
People with two copies of the T form had three times the stroke risk on the
low-fat diet.
Sticking to the diet was
important: People who consistently cheated on the Mediterranean diet did not
get the health benefits.
CITATIONS
D. Corella et al.
Mediterranean diet reduces the adverse effect of the TCF7L2- rs7903146
polymorphism on cardiovascular risk factors and stroke incidence. Diabetes Care
published online August 13, 2013. DOI: 10.2337/dc13-0955
SUGGESTED
READING
M. Crenson. What ancient
mummies have to tell us about the perils of modern life. Science News online.
April 29, 2013. [Go to]
