Carbohydrate-rich Diet In Diabetes Raises Blood Pressure

A new study conducted by researchers at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center says that a carbohydrate-rich diet may compound the problem faced by diabetics by increasing their blood pressure.

The research team led by Dr Abhimanyu Garg, professor and chief of the division of nutrition and metabolic disease at the University compared the effects of a high-carb diet on blood pressure with a diet rich in monounsaturated fatty acids. The study followed 42 subjects with type-2 diabetes as they embarked on a diet containing 55 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent fat and ten percent high-monounsaturated fat. The number of calories in all three diets was the same. After six weeks the groups switched over to the other type of diet. During the last three days of each diet, the systolic and diastolic blood pressure was measured. Although there was no difference between high-carb diet and high-mono diet the first time around, the researchers found that there was an increase in blood pressure at the end of full 14 weeks in subjects following the high-carb diet. 'Although the exchange of carbohydrates with monounsaturated fats may not affect blood pressure in the short term, long-term consumption of a high-carbohydrate diet may modestly raise blood pressure in type 2 diabetic patients,' the researchers concluded in the study, which is published in the latest issue of Diabetes Care.

Blood pressure remains a number one concern in diabetics. It is estimated that almost 73 percent of diabetics have raised blood pressure. The problem is that high blood pressure in diabetes causes heart attacks which are sometimes fatal.

Medindia on DIABETES:

Diabetes is a group of diseases with one thing in common - a problem with insulin. The problem could be that your body doesn't make any insulin, doesn't make enough insulin or doesn't use insulin properly.

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