Nov 7, 2012 – Beans or Bread

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ANCHOR LEAD: ARE BEANS BETTER THAN BREAD FOR FOLKS WITH DIABETES? ELIZABETH TRACEY REPORTS

Keeping blood sugar under control is a big responsibility for those with diabetes, and diet can help.  Now a new study compares whether legumes such as beans and lentils are more helpful than whole grains. Rita Kalyani, a diabetes expert at Johns Hopkins, comments.

KALYANI: We often refer our patients with diabetes to see a dietician and the dieticians will give dietary modification advice.  Whole wheat may be part of the thing that they recommend. If you take in small amounts versus larger amounts you might expect to see a different effect on blood glucose.  I think the authors were being conservative in comparing the legumes to whole wheat.  They wanted to see whether the legumes were able to offer any additional benefit compared to the whole wheat and I think that is a strength of this study, however the benefit was modest. :28

Kalyani says this study likely illustrates that people can choose when it comes to whole grains or beans, and that variety is probably a good thing.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.