ANOTHER WAY TO PREVENT DIABETES. EAT MORE FISH

Many of us fear diabetes because of its high correlation with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Yet we all like our food, usually the more diabetogenic they are, the more tasty to us. And Malaysia is a paradise for such foods. The stalls are open even till the wee hours of the morning. Therefore the rising incidence of obesity and diabetes is not surprising and has become a serious health issue.
Preventing diabetes thus becomes an important part of healthcare objective.
Our colleagues in Finland has given us a clue.
There is this Finnish study, carried out by Dr Jyrti Virtenen of the University of Eastern Finland. It appears that Diabetes is also on the rise in Finland, therefore the interest.
In Finland, there is this Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study group. So Dr Virtenen looked into about 2,212 males in the KIHD group, who were aged 42-60, and who were not known diabetics at the onset, followed their diet through food recording over 4 days for each period. At 4, 11 and 20 years, they were assessed for their serum levels of Omega 3 PUFA ( Polyunsaturated fatty acids ) and their Hair Mercury level ( there were some previous evidence that fishes in Finland may have high levels of mercury and that may be the reason why the earlier studies were not consistent for the correlation between omega 3 PUFA and incidence of T2DM.
After an average FU of 19.3 years, they found 422 new cases of T2DM. They found a strong correlation between the reduced incidence of T2DM in those subjects who had high levels of PUFA. There was no increase incidence of hair mercury levels.
This paper is available or review in the January issue of Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetic Association.
Interesting, so eating more fish may help us avoid T2DM, and there is nothing much to fear from mercury poisoning, I suppose it would be better if the fishes are fro Finland.