According to the expert, most 30-year-olds are sleepwalking to a diabetes diagnosis because they eat 3 TIMES more potatoes and bread than necessary.
- Professor Joan Taylor, from De Montfort University, blamed the current direction of the NHS
- It states that carbohydrates should make up just over a third of what we eat
- Speaking at the British Science Festival, he called for them to be reduced by just 10%
Most people in their 30s could be unknowingly on the way to developing diabetes because of society’s high-carbohydrate diets, a leading expert warned today.
Professor Joan Taylor, a diabetes expert at De Montfort University in Leicester, blamed current NHS nutritional guidance.
It states that carbohydrates such as potatoes, bread and rice should make up just over a third of what we eat.
But speaking at the British Science Festival, Professor Taylor called for it to be reduced by just 10%.
Professor Joan Taylor, a diabetes expert based at De Montfort University in Leicester, blamed current NHS nutritional guidance. It states that carbohydrates such as potatoes, bread and rice should make up just over a third of what we eat. But speaking at the British Science Festival, Professor Taylor called for it to be reduced by just 10%.
Eating fewer starchy foods could help people lose weight, dramatically reducing their risk of type 2 diabetes.
It will also help bring your blood sugar levels ‘down to normal’.
Starchy carbs tend to be calorie dense, which is why they’ve been vilified for the past few decades.
Professor Taylor said: “If you can get it down to 10 per cent, given that the NHS recommendation is 35 per cent, not only will you lose weight, which is good for metabolic syndrome and type 2, but your blood glucose drops to normal.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body doesn’t make enough insulin, or the insulin it makes doesn’t work properly, causing high blood sugar levels.
Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to blindness and leave patients needing to have limbs amputated or in a coma.
The disease affects approximately 4.5 million Britons and more than 30 million Americans.
But it is feared that hundreds of thousands are unknowingly walking around with the disease.
Unlike type 1 diabetes, which is genetic, type 2 diabetes is primarily driven by obesity. It is also reversible with a healthy lifestyle.
Professor Taylor said: “If you talk to diabetologists, they will tell you that most people from the age of 30 … start putting on weight these days which means moving into metabolic syndrome, which is a route. a the diabetes
‘Most people are at risk.
“Only athletic, lean types who stay that way in their 30s and 40s aren’t.
“This is an amazing thing, really.”
Metabolic syndrome is the medical term for a combination of diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension) and obesity.
Diabetes UK estimates that one in three adults in the UK has pre-diabetes, meaning their blood glucose levels are above normal but below the threshold for a diabetes diagnosis.
About 90% of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes, about 8% have type 1 diabetes, and about 2% have rarer types of diabetes.
NHS England suggests the service spends around £10 billion a year on diabetes, around 10 per cent of its entire budget.
Research has shown that for some people, diet, physical activity and sustained weight loss can be effective in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes by 50 percent.
HOW SHOULD A BALANCED DIET BE?
Meals should be based on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, ideally wholegrain, according to the NHS
• Eat at least 5 servings of a variety of fruits and vegetables each day. All fresh, frozen, dried and canned fruits and vegetables count
• Meals based on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, ideally whole grains
• 30 grams of fiber a day: This is the same as eating all of the following: 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, 2 whole grain crackers, 2 thick slices of whole grain bread, and large baked potatoes with the skin on.
• Have some dairy or dairy alternatives (like soy drinks) by choosing lower-fat, lower-sugar options
• Eat some beans, legumes, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins (including 2 portions of fish each week, one of which should be fatty)
• Choose unsaturated and spreadable oils and consume them in small amounts
• Drink 6-8 cups/glasses of water a day
• Adults should have less than 6g of salt and 20g of saturated fat for women or 30g for men per day.
Source: NHS Eatwell Guide
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