Eating herbs and berries and drinking red wine may provide powerful protection against developing diabetes, according to a major British study.
According to researchers at Norwich Medical School people who eat diets high in berries and herbs have better control of blood sugar and less resistance to insulin than others.
The findings come from a study of some 2,000 women twins.
Researchers set out to identify the impact of two substances found in fruit and vegetables.
One substance is flavones, found in herbs and vegetables such as parsley, thyme and celery.
The other were anthocyanins, found in berries, red grapes and red wine.
Both substances were linked to improved handling of blood glucose levels but anthocyanins were also found to help reduce levels of chronic inflammation, the researchers reported in the Journal of Nutrition.
Researcher Professor Aedin Cassidy said: "This is one of the first large-scale human studies to look at how these powerful bioactive compounds might reduce the risk of diabetes.
"Laboratory studies have shown these types of foods might modulate blood glucose regulation – affecting the risk of type 2 diabetes. But until now little has been know about how habitual intakes might affect insulin resistance, blood glucose regulation and inflammation in humans."
Fellow researcher Professor Tim Spector, of King’s College, London, said: "This is an exciting finding that shows that some components of foods that we consider unhealthy like chocolate or wine may contain some beneficial substances. If we can start to identify and separate these substances we can potentially improve healthy eating.
"There are many reasons including genetics why people prefer certain foods so we should be cautious until we test them properly in randomised trials and in people developing early diabetes."
Intakes of Anthocyanins and Flavones Are Associated with Biomarkers of Insulin Resistance and Inflammation in Women. Journal of Nutrition 20 January 2014
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