“People who like spicy food are less likely to get diabetes”, is this true?

According to data from 2019, China ranks first in the world in the number of people with diabetes.

The global prevalence of diabetes among adults aged 20-79 is 8.3%, with 382 million patients, 80% of whom are in middle- and low-income countries. The prevalence of diabetes among adults aged 18 and above in China is as high as 11.6%, which means that 1 in 10 Chinese adults suffers from diabetes .

What is more serious is that in China, the awareness rate of diabetes patients is only 30.1%, which means that among the 114 million diabetes patients in the country, about 80 million are unaware.

Recently, Ruijin Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University made an interesting discovery: eating spicy food can improve blood sugar.

This study was based on a sample of more than 200 million Chinese people covering all provinces across the country, and analyzed the relationship between the geographical distribution of dietary preferences and the risk of diabetes.

01

People who like spicy food

Is it really less likely to get diabetes?

The results show that:

● Fried, grilled, and sweet foods are positively correlated with the risk of diabetes, while the opposite is true for spicy foods.

● In other words, liking spicy food is actually a protective factor for diabetes and can significantly improve fasting and postprandial blood sugar levels.

● Although "numbing" cannot significantly reduce the incidence of diseases, it can improve glucose metabolism to a certain extent.

Researchers are also making unremitting explorations. Some studies have found that capsaicin in peppers is related to lowering fasting blood sugar and insulin levels. Eating spicy food promotes fat oxidation and energy consumption, and may reduce the risk of diabetes, obesity and other diseases to a certain extent. Other studies have found that peppers may increase the number or affinity of insulin receptors, increase the clearance rate of insulin, and improve postprandial hyperinsulinemia, so people who often eat spicy food are less likely to have postprandial insulinemia. In other words, based on current research results, eating spicy food may indeed be more friendly to diabetes.

So, is it scientific to prevent and treat diabetes by eating more spicy food?

The answer is no.

The "spicy food" commonly seen in our lives, such as hot pot and spicy hot pot, often has problems such as high oil and high salt in addition to being spicy. Therefore, when choosing specific foods, we should pay attention to the principle of light diet and eat spicy food in moderation.

In addition, the majority of people with diabetes in my country are middle-aged and elderly people. Whether their gastrointestinal conditions can tolerate the stimulation of spicy food varies from person to person. If you usually have gastrointestinal discomfort after eating spicy food, or have other discomforts, then it is not recommended to eat spicy food. People with chronic coughs and bronchitis dilatation should not eat spicy food, as there is a risk of inducing asthma.

If your body can tolerate it, you can eat more spicy food. For example, using chili peppers instead of some heavy-tasting condiments is a healthier choice. In addition, you should also avoid cooking methods that use too much oil and salt.

02

How to prevent diabetes correctly?

First of all, developing a healthy lifestyle is an important measure to prevent diabetes.

It mainly includes a reasonable diet, moderate exercise and a good attitude, etc. Among them, a reasonable diet is the key to preventing diabetes, which mainly includes regular diet, eating small meals frequently, controlling food calorie intake, avoiding overeating, quitting smoking and limiting alcohol consumption, etc.

At the same time, moderate exercise, such as walking, jogging and swimming, can also help improve the body's immunity and prevent the occurrence of diabetes. In addition, a positive attitude also plays a certain role in the prevention of diabetes.

Secondly, it is necessary to strengthen diabetes screening among high-risk groups .

The high-risk groups for diabetes mainly include those with a family history of diabetes; those with impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting blood sugar; those aged over 45 with a body mass index over 24; those with low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and/or hypertriglyceridemia; those with hypertension and/or cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, etc. Diabetes screening should be strengthened for such people, fasting blood sugar or glucose tolerance screening should be conducted regularly, and preventive intervention should be carried out as early as possible.

03

If you have diabetes

How should it be handled?

1. Control your diet.

Patients with diabetes are often inseparable from their eating habits. Therefore, controlling diet can effectively control blood sugar and slow down the further aggravation of diabetes. The most important thing is to match the diet. Eat a light diet with more green leafy vegetables and whole grains, and avoid eating overly greasy or high-calorie desserts, sugar cubes, carbonated drinks, etc.

2. Exercise therapy.

Aerobic exercise can lower blood sugar in the body. Choosing some aerobic exercises, such as swimming, jogging, walking, cycling and other aerobic exercises can achieve the purpose of controlling blood sugar and reduce the occurrence and development of diabetes complications.

3. Drug treatment, combined with doctor's advice.

Western medicine options mainly include oral hypoglycemic drugs, such as metformin, acarbose, glimepiride, linagliptin, dapagliflozin, rosiglitazone and other related oral hypoglycemic drugs. Subcutaneous injection of insulin can also be used for treatment. There are many types of insulin, including rapid-acting insulin, ultra-rapid-acting insulin, premixed insulin, long-acting insulin and intermediate-acting insulin.

Therefore, do not blindly use spicy food to deal with diabetes. You need to eat regularly, maintain a happy mood, and use scientific methods to prevent and deal with diabetes.

References:

[1] Zhao Z, Li M, Li C, et al. Dietary preferences and diabetic risk in China: A large-scale nationwide Internet data-based study[J]. Journal of diabetes, 2020.

[2] Application of dietary guidance in diabetes care[J]. Cao Lijia, Sun Li, Chen Zongtao. New World of Diabetes. 2021(02)

[3] Ahuja, KD, Robertson, IK, Geraghty, DP, et al. (2006). Effects of chili consumption on postprandial glucose, insulin, and energy metabolism. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 84(1), 63-69. [J] . Xiaoying Wu,Wenting Xuan,Lili You,Hong Lian,Feng Li,Xiaoyun Zhang,Qingyu Chen,Kan Sun,Chaogang Chen,Mingtong Xu,Yan Li,Li Yan,Xiuwei Zhang,Meng Ren. Endocrine . 2021 (prep)

[4] Ahuja, KD, Robertson, IK, Geraghty, DP, et al. (2006). Effects of chili consumption on postprandial glucose, insulin, and energy metabolism. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 84(1), 63-69. [5] Chinese Society of Diabetes. (2021). Guidelines for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes in China (2020 edition). Chinese Journal of Diabetes, 13(4), 95.

Produced by | Science Popularization China

Author: Xu Lang