Contrary to popular belief dating back to very many years, there is no cause-and-effect relationship between diabetes mellitus and the consumption of carbohydrates in general and sucrose in particular. However, heavy consumption of sucrose can reveal a genetic predisposition to diabetes mellitus by provoking the symptoms of the pathology.
There are two types of diabetes : insulin-dependent diabetes (type I) and non-insulin dependent diabetes (type II). Both types are characterized by an excess of glucose in the blood, although they do not occur for the same reasons. Each requires a separate type of treatment.
Type I diabetes is a chronic illness that is usually diagnosed before adulthood. It is caused by the destruction of cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, the hormone that regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. This illness is often hereditary. The treatment aims to permanently maintain glycaemia levels within a certain physiological range. This is achieved through daily insulin injections.
In type II diabetes, you produce too much insulin, but it does not lower your glycaemia levels. This is called insulin resistance. Very often this type of diabetes is linked to an excess of fat, mainly around the abdomen. Treatments differ from person to person, but all of them involve weight loss. If you lose 5 to 10 kilos of weight, you improve your insulin resistance.
Non-insulin dependent diabetics (type II) must watch their weight. This means reducing their total calorie intake. At the same time, they must become more physically active. Until recently, diabetics had to keep to an extremely strict diet: no sugar or sweet things, limited amounts of bread and starchy foods. There’s no food that diabetics cannot eat. The proportion of carbohydrates in their diet can be up to 40 to 50% of their total energy intake.
Diabetics can eat a sugar-sweetened product at the end of the meal, on condition that they do not exceed their “allowance” of carbohydrates. But they must avoid eating sweetened food and drinks between meals. Greater knowledge of carbohydrate digestion and absorption means better dietary advice for diabetics and a freedom to eat what they want.