Vegetable reduces risk of diabetes among Afro Americans: Study

05 November, 2011

Doctors, nutritionists and researchers are emphasising the need of fresh vegetables each day. Recently, it was revealed that vegetables should be taken by African Americans in order to stay away from diabetes.

ALTHOUGH AFRICAN Americans are influenced by European food habits given their slave history, yet over the years they have developed a very distinct food habit of their own. One of the most talked about food culture, among the African Americans, that has become world famous is Soul Food. This basically consists of a lot of meat proteins in the form of pork and chicken and nice fresh vegetables. Apart from soul food, even in other types of food, Africans Americans prefer meat to other things, which is a rising concern as vegetables are helpful in reducing the risk of diabetes in these people.

African Americans are twice more susceptible to diabetes than non-Hispanic whites. Serena Tonstad, MD, a professor at Loma Linda University lead the study emphasised the importance of vegetables and said that more and more fresh produce should be taken by the Blacks of America.

Apart from the actual disease, the researchers are also concerned about the many another diabetes related complications in African American people such as end-stage renal disease and lower-extremity amputations. As reported in zeenews.com, when they researched they found that non-vegetarian blacks, vegan blacks had a 70 percent reduced risk of diabetes, and blacks who only took dairy products had 53 percent of reduced risks of having diabetes.

The researchers also said that vegetable contents reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes that is very prevalent among the blacks in America. Although, food industry is growing towards sophistication and newer techniques, yet doctors are emphasising the need to go away from meat to vegetables.