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A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, says that high carbohydrate diets my increase the risk of some types of breast cancer after the menopause.
Including super foods like wheatgrass and chia seeds in your diet could reduce the affect carbs have.
Your body requires carbohydrates, as they are an important source of energy. But, and it's a big but, some carbohydrates are better for you than others. Much as we like them, many processed foods like white bread and white flour, white rice and pasta etc, have most of their fibre and nutrients removed from them, leaving behind a lot of starch and sugar, that your body absorbed easily.
There are two different ways to measure the effect that carbohydrate foods have on our blood sugar levels:
The first one is called the Glycaemic Index, and is know as GI for short. It measures on a scale of 1 to 100, how much the food will increase our blood sugar levels. The high the number on the scale, the bigger the increase in our blood sugar. As our blood sugar levels increase, so do the risks of many serious diseases like diabetes and heart disease.
The second system used to measure this, is called the Glycaemic Load, or simply GL. This measurement includes the total amount of carbohydrate in the as well as the GI index.
As such the GL is generally considered to be more accurate in assessing the affect that different foods have on our blood sugar and insulin levels.
Higher Glycaemic Load correlated with an increased risk of breast cancer for some women.
The study was spread over 12 years, and looked at the breast cancer risks for a total of 334,849 women, aged between 34 to 66. Their diets were evaluated by the researchers in terms of GI, GL and the total carbohydrate intake.
During the course of the study 11,576 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. The researchers found that postmenopausal women with a high GL and high carbohydrate diet, had a significantly higher risk of breast cancer, when compared with the rest of the group.
There was no change in the risk of breast cancer for women were not postmenopausal, and who also had a diet with a high GL and high carbohydrate make up.
In considering the conclusions of the study, the authors said: "Our results also suggest a potential interaction between fibre intake and glycaemic load and carbohydrates on the risk of breast cancer,".
Healthy fats, and dietary fibre can both help slow down the absorption of carbohydrate into your system, and this will help lower the overall GL of your diet. So they key to this is eating the right foods, favouring those high in dietary fibre, that'll keep your blood sugar levels steady.
One way to do this is by taking the wholemeal option, instead of the white option. For example, wholemeal bread, wholemeal pasta, and brown rice. You can also look at adding super foods to your diet. Wheatgrass powder, spirulina and chia seeds can help reduce the GL of a meal.
Including super foods like wheatgrass and chia seeds in your diet could reduce the affect carbs have.
Your body requires carbohydrates, as they are an important source of energy. But, and it's a big but, some carbohydrates are better for you than others. Much as we like them, many processed foods like white bread and white flour, white rice and pasta etc, have most of their fibre and nutrients removed from them, leaving behind a lot of starch and sugar, that your body absorbed easily.
There are two different ways to measure the effect that carbohydrate foods have on our blood sugar levels:
The first one is called the Glycaemic Index, and is know as GI for short. It measures on a scale of 1 to 100, how much the food will increase our blood sugar levels. The high the number on the scale, the bigger the increase in our blood sugar. As our blood sugar levels increase, so do the risks of many serious diseases like diabetes and heart disease.
The second system used to measure this, is called the Glycaemic Load, or simply GL. This measurement includes the total amount of carbohydrate in the as well as the GI index.
As such the GL is generally considered to be more accurate in assessing the affect that different foods have on our blood sugar and insulin levels.
Higher Glycaemic Load correlated with an increased risk of breast cancer for some women.
The study was spread over 12 years, and looked at the breast cancer risks for a total of 334,849 women, aged between 34 to 66. Their diets were evaluated by the researchers in terms of GI, GL and the total carbohydrate intake.
During the course of the study 11,576 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. The researchers found that postmenopausal women with a high GL and high carbohydrate diet, had a significantly higher risk of breast cancer, when compared with the rest of the group.
There was no change in the risk of breast cancer for women were not postmenopausal, and who also had a diet with a high GL and high carbohydrate make up.
In considering the conclusions of the study, the authors said: "Our results also suggest a potential interaction between fibre intake and glycaemic load and carbohydrates on the risk of breast cancer,".
Healthy fats, and dietary fibre can both help slow down the absorption of carbohydrate into your system, and this will help lower the overall GL of your diet. So they key to this is eating the right foods, favouring those high in dietary fibre, that'll keep your blood sugar levels steady.
One way to do this is by taking the wholemeal option, instead of the white option. For example, wholemeal bread, wholemeal pasta, and brown rice. You can also look at adding super foods to your diet. Wheatgrass powder, spirulina and chia seeds can help reduce the GL of a meal.
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