Veggies May Protect Women from Diabetes

Diabetes is still on the rise. New numbers confirm that from 2005 to 2007 the total prevalence of diabetes in the U.S. increased by 13.5 percent.

This means that now 8 percent of the total population has diabetes (23.6 million children and adults). In 2007, 1.6 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in people aged 20 and older.

Amidst the bad news of these surging numbers, there's good news about prevention from researchers at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. They found that green leafy vegetables may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in women.

For every additional serving of green leafy vegetables a woman eats per day, there was a 9 percent reduction in risk. (Men, feel free to go ahead and up your intake of veggies and fruits, too, even if this study wasn't about you.)

This isn't the first study to show a relationship between a reduction in type 2 diabetes and the eating of more vegetables. Reasons for this reduction in risk may be that vegetables are low in calories and fat and high in antioxidants, fiber, and a variety of vitamins and minerals — all things definitely not associated with an increased risk of diabetes.

The take-home message here should be simply to include vegetables every day in your meals, and then some. Think about planning your meals around what vegetable you are having (in season, I hope) and then adding other foods. When you sit down to eat, vegetables should be covering half your plate.

Whether those vegetables are fresh, frozen, or canned, they are an important part of your diet and may reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes.

Source: http://health.yahoo.com/experts/nutrition/13951/veggies-may-protect-women-from-diabetes/