Researchers urge students to begin watching diet and weight now,
following recent findings that suggest intake of foods with a high
glycemic index may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Xiao Ou Shu,
senior author of the paper, said it would be premature to create
national health recommendations based on the research but said it may
impact public health.

“Given that a large part of the world's population consumes rice and
carbohydrates as the mainstay of their diets, these prospective data
linking intake of refined carbohydrates to increased risk of Type 2
diabetes mellitus may have substantial implications for public health,”
the researchers conclude.

Raquel Villegas, Shu and other Vanderbilt Medical Center researchers
recently published the results of the study, in which they followed a
group of 64,227 Chinese women for an average of five years, collecting
data on dietary habits, physical activity, diabetes occurrence and
other health-related information every two years between 1997 and 2004.

Shu emphasized that conclusions cannot be drawn that rice or other
foods with a high glycemic index cause diabetes, but it appears that
diet, combined with other lifestyle factors, seems to have a profound
influence on the incidence of the disease.

“I always tell students that diabetes isn’t just for old people,” Shu
said. “Disease prevention should start now, so pay attention to health
factors such as having a balanced diet and being physically active, and
you’ll benefit in later life.”

During the study, 1,608 of the women developed diabetes, and those
consuming the most carbohydrates were found to have a 28 percent
greater risk of developing diabetes than those consuming the least
amount of carbohydrates.

“Traditionally, Chinese women have low incidence of diabetes, but we’ve
noticed that the rate has been rising rather rapidly in the past
decade,” Shu said. “We believe that Westernization has contributed to
the increased risk of diabetes and other chronic diseases among this
population.”

Though the results of the study cannot be directly generalized to other
ethnic or population groups, many other studies have demonstrated the
negative effects of poor diet, inactivity, obesity and high
carbohydrate intake on diabetes, including a recent study at the Boston University School of Public Health.

“Type 2 diabetes is affecting more people, even kids at a young age,
because it goes side-by-side with obesity and sedentary lifestyle,” Shu
said.