A new study conducted by the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at the Hammersmith Hospital in London investigated what happened when diabetic patients increased their sugar intake but kept their body weight stable.
The study, which used slices of carrot cake added to the daily diet of the diabetic patients, indicates that those diabetics who maintained stable body weight showed no negative changes to blood glucose, despite increased sugar.
The professor that led the study, Gary Frost, reportedly commented: “In this study, the energy intake of these patients was balanced to their body weight, and their sucrose intake was spread evenly over a day. Correspondingly, they did not gain weight or show an increase in blood glucose levels at the end of the study; in addition, their cholesterol levels and insulin sensitivity did not change.’ He added ‘the results of this small, short-term study support other scientific studies, which suggest that there could be more flexibility with sucrose in the diets of patients with type 2 diabetes . There is evidence from other studies (reviewed by Kirk et al 2000) that inclusion of sucrose may help people to lower their fat intake, which in turn may be beneficial to overall health .”
Professor Frost reportedly concluded: “This research is in line with the dietary guidelines set by the American Diabetes Association (2007), which state that sucrose does not cause a greater increase in blood glucose levels than an equivalent amount of starch. Therefore sucrose or sucrose-containing foods should be treated similarly to other carbohydrate containing foods by people with diabetes; either substituted for other carbohydrates in the total daily intake, or managed with appropriate diabetes medication.”

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