Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D.
Vitamin C for Diabetes Protection
The vitamin C contained in fruits and vegetables - and to some extent the fruits and vegetables themselves - may reduce the risk of diabetes by 62 percent.
This finding comes from British clinicians who followed more than 21,000 men and women for 12 years. The researchers, from Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, England, analyzed dietary patterns from food frequency questionnaires. The average age of the men and women participating in the study was 58.4 at the outset; women made up two-thirds of the study population. Over the 12 years of follow up, 735 cases of diabetes were diagnosed. When the researchers correlated blood levels of vitamin C and diabetes, they found that men and women with the highest blood levels (at least 1.10 and 1.29 mg/dL, respectively) had a 62 per cent reduction in their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, compared to men and women with the lowest blood levels (less than 0.56 and 0.77 mg/dL, respectively). They also found that participants with the highest fruit and vegetable intake (459 and 550 grams per day, respectively) had a 22 per cent reduction in their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, compared to men and women with the lowest fruit and vegetable intake (289 and 382 grams per day, respectively). The researchers said that fiber from the fruits and vegetables wasn’t associated with the reduced risk but speculated that eating fruits and vegetables may be protective against diabetes through its effect on obesity. The study was published in the July 28, 2008 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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