Traditional Asian diet can reduce risk of Type-2 Diabetes

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Diabetes is becoming more prevalent in people of Asian heritage, increasing from approximately 2.5% in 1994 to 9.7% in present day. In 2011, approximately 50% of the diagnosed cases of type-2 diabetes were patients of Asian and Western Pacific heritage (Hsu et al., 2014). One hypothesis for this increase is Westernization, particularly in diet. The traditional Asian diet is high in fiber and low in fat which may lead to a decrease in insulin resistance because the demand to metabolize sugar is not there. Transitioning to a Westernized diet, one that is high in fat and low in fiber, increases the risk for type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease more in Asians than any other ethnicity (Hsu et al., 2014). There appears to be a correlation between Westernization and type-2 diabetes in Asia because prevalence of diagnosis increases in urban areas where a Western diet is more common compared to rural areas (Hsu et al., 2014).

A study conducted by the Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard Medical School in 2014, compared what they established as a traditional Asian diet (55-70% carbohydrates, 33g/day of fiber, 15% fat and 20% animal protein) to a traditional Western diet (50% carbohydrates, 10-12g/day of fiber, 34% fat, and 60% animal protein) and administered it to 24 Asian Americans and 16 Caucasian Americans with a history of diabetes for 16 weeks (8 weeks on each diet). The study found that participants on the Asian diet had reduced their LDL cholesterol levels and increased insulin sensitivity among both Asian and Caucasian Americans (Bright, 2014). In contrast, the Western diet impaired insulin sensitivity in Asian American participants but not in Caucasian American participants. In addition, all participants on the western diet experienced some form of weight gain and increased BMI (Hsu et al., 2014).

This data supports the hypothesis that Westernization of the Asian diet (most likely due to an increase in fast food chains in Asia) may be a leading factor in the increase of type-2 diabetes being seen in patients of Asian heritage. Further studies should be conducted including a similar study with a larger sample size and inclusion of other ethnicities to observe the effects of a western diet.

References:

Bright, J. (2014, September 18). Lower Diabetes Risk on Asian Diet: Asian-Americans reduced their insulin resistance while eating traditional foods. Retrieved September 28, 2014, from http://hms.harvard.edu/news/lower-diabetes-risk-asian-diet?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hms-twitter-general

Hsu, W., et al. (2014). Improvement of insulin sensitivity by isoenergy high carbohydrate traditional asian diet: a randomized controlled pilot feasibility study. PLOS ONE, 9(9). Retrieved September 28, 2014. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106851