Diabetes: The one drink women should avoid

Women who want to lower their risk of developing diabetes type II, the ‘lifestyle’ disease, should eat plenty of fruit and green, leafy vegetables – but there’s one drink they must avoid.

Researchers have discovered that fruit juices may increase the risk of diabetes, especially among women.  Research team leader Dr Lydia A. Bazzano of Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine said that juices have a high sugar load that is easily absorbed by the body.

But women who eat three servings a day of fruit had an 18 per cent reduced risk of diabetes, while a single serving a day of leafy green vegetables lowered the chances by nine per cent.  However, one drink of fruit juice every day increased the chances of diabetes by 18 per cent.

The results were based on an analysis of 71,346 women whose diets and health were monitored over an 18-year period.

(Source: Diabetes Care, 2008; 31: 1311-7).