By now you have likely heard how prevalent Type 2 diabetes is. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 24 million Americans have diabetes, the majority of the cases Type 2 or adult-onset diabetes. And according to an analysis of a recent report by health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc., half the American population will have diabetes or be prediabetic by 2020 at a cost to the U.S. healthcare system of $3.35 trillion, if current trends continue. Left unchecked and improperly managed, diabetes can lead to blindness, limb amputation, kidney failure, and heart disease. Consider these ways of helping stave off this devastating disease.
1. Eat brown rice
Skip refined white rice. A group of Boston-based researchers discovered that people who eat brown rice and other whole grains have a lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes than those who eat white rice. (The beneficial vitamins, fiber, and minerals of white rice are removed during processing.) Replacing one-third of a serving of white rice daily with the same amount of brown rice could lower individual risk by 16 percent, researchers said in the Archives of Internal Medicine. That risk reduction could grow to as high as 36 percent if white rice were replaced with whole grains as a group.
