Spice up your food to prevent and fight diabetes, says new study

A new study, published this week in the journal Nutrition showed that natural chemicals in everyday herbs and spices have a major influence on the risk of developing diabetes and the severity of diabetic complications.

The paper by Dr Keith Singletary, professor of nutrition in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois, suggests that spicing up the diet could help the 500 million people who already live with type 2 diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and prevent millions more transgressing from pre-diabetes to the full blown disease. People with diabetes or pre-diabetes, who eat more spices were shown to have better HbA1c levels and insulin sensitivity.

This information, along-side existing lifestyle advice, is much needed as the number of people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK has quadrupled from 1 to 4 million over the last 10 years and is estimated to rise to 5.3 million by 2025. Type 2 diabetes is now one of the world’s most common long term health concerns.

Why is diabetes so bad for overall health?

Apart from the inconvenience of medication and eventually injections, complications of diabetes include an increased risk for hardened arteries, heart attacks, leg ulcers,  angina, chronic kidney disease, stroke, eye damage, peripheral neuropathy, cancer and sexual dysfunction. As well as accumulating disabilities these cause premature death and escalating national health costs.

What causes T2DM? 

It was previous though that T2DM ran in families and there was very little an individual could do to reduce their risks. However, several studies, including a recent new study from Finland showed that nurture very much trumps nature when it comes to diabetes. There are several known major risk factors including obesity, sedentary lifestyle, poor gut health and high sugar intake. Now the research from Dr Singletary reveals that people who eat more spices have a lower risk of diabetes, better diabetic control and a lower risk of diabetic complications. 

Why do herbs and spices help our health 

These foods are rich in natural phytochemicals which provide their colour, aroma and taste. Over these appealing attributes, they protect us from many illnesses, via several essential mechanisms. Within our cells they arm our antioxidant enzymes, promote expression of our healthy genes, enhance DNA repair pathways and reduce chronic inflammation. In our gut they act as prebiotics which enhance gut healthy bacteria. They also have anti-viral (anti-covid) properties and improve tissue oxygenation. 

Why do phytochemicals protect us from diabetes

The anti-diabetic effects of phytochemical rich foods are multifactorial. Phytochemicals rich foods are often high in pulp and fibre which help gut mobility and act as prebiotics reducing dysbiosis. Phytochemical rich foods  slow the transport of sugar across the gut hence slowing the glycaemic index of carbohydrates, improving insulin sensitivity. It is widely recognised that receptors in the stomach interact with capsaicin, a phytochemical responsible for the ‘heat’ in chillies, which helps with reducing calorie intake by signalling a feeling of fullness. Green tea, rich in catechin polyphenols help control appetite and encourages the formation of the more healthy brown fat cells, and inhibit fat absorption from the gut. Pomegranates are rich in phenolic acids and anthocyanidins, which have been shown to switch on fat metabolism and encourage weight loss and weight control even when the same number of calories are being eaten. 

Why do phytochemical rich foods reduce the complications of diabetes?

Several phytoactive compounds such as flavonoids, lignans and polyphenols, are also found to combat the complications of diabetes such as reducing the risks of metabolic syndrome, vascular damage all of which are indirectly linked to a higher risk of multiple degenerative disorders including cancer and cancer progression. On top of the direct biochemical cellular mechanisms highlighted above they also reduce the risk of chronic degenerative conditions, more common after diabetes, by:

• Improving exercise comfort and performance
• Helping brain function, improve memory and protect us from dementia
• Supporting a good night's sleep
• Improving mood and motivation to lead a healthy lifestyle 
• Improving gut health
• Helping arthritis, allow people to be more physically active 

Practical tips to boost phytochemical rich food intake

Phytochemicals, especially the biggest group called polyphenols, are abundant in spices and herbs but also in vegetables, broccoli, salads, teas, nuts, fruits, mushrooms, seeds and legumes more often used in Asian and Mediterranean diets. The typical western diet, tend to be deficient in polyphenols, meaning we need to eat a lot more of them. Ideally we should aim to have one or more vegetable, fruit or other phytochemical rich food with every meal of the day and make sure dishes contain a lot more herbs and spices. 

This type of diet does not suit everybody and in the busy world we live in, it’s often difficult to prepare fresh healthy meals on a daily basis. A well-made nutritional supplement, for some people, is a convenient way to increase phytochemical intake and spread intake across the day. Supplements can also contain anti-diabetes foods which are not commonly eaten in a typical UK diet such a turmeric, pomegranate, ginger, resveratrol, chamomile and cranberries.

The problem is, the quality of over the counter supplements can vary, contain too much of one particular food or worse still only contain single extracted chemicals from a single food. These miss out on the benefits of the whole plant, or combination of plants, which can work in synergy to enhance their favourable effects. Most of all, the vast majority have not be evaluated for effectiveness in robust medical trials. There are some exceptions, such as the blend called Phyto-V which emerged out of the latest covid research and YourPhyto developed by the scientific committee of the latest UK national nutritional intervention study. As a rule, supplements designed for medical trials, such as these, have to be scrutinised by ethical approval boards so have a much higher level of level of quality assurance and hence safety.