Indian tests demystify sweet myths

As summer sweeps out India, one of the most common questions that a diabetologist based in Mumbai hears his patients is: “Can I eat mangoes?”

“The mangoes, with their rich sweetness and their various varieties, are a must in Indian summers, and it is understandable why people want to indulge,” explains Rahul Baxi.

However, this simple question, he says, is charged with false ideas – ranging from the belief that mangoes should be strictly avoided, in the opposite extreme where some people think that eating excess mango could “reverse diabetes”.

Reality is somewhere between the two, but confusion does not end in the season. “In fact, many patients come back for follow-up visits after the Mango season, often with high levels of glucose, and sometimes the culprit can simply be compensation in this beloved fruit,” explains Dr. Baxi.

This constant dilemma has let many people with diabetes be wary of the “fruit king”. However, new research suggests that mangoes may not be the bad way they have sometimes done.

Two new Indian clinical trials run conventional food wisdom on its head, which suggests that controlled mango consumption instead of carbohydrates (in the form of bread) can actually improve blood sugar and metabolic health in people with type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas produces little or no insulin, while in type 2, the body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin.

Type 2 diabetes represents more than 90% of world cases, according to the International Diabetes Federation (FDI). This is the eighth cause of the charge of disease worldwide, planned second in 2050. Although not fully understood, it is strongly linked to excess weight, age, ethnicity and family history.

In India, around 77 million adults suffer from type 2 diabetes, while nearly 25 million are prediabetic and at high risk of developing the disease, according to the World Health Organization.

However, in the middle of the challenges, the new discoveries offer a surprising radius of hope – especially for mango lovers.

A pilot study will soon appear in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition and implying 95 participants revealed that three varieties of popular Indian mango – Safeda, Dasheri and Langra – have produced glycemic responses similar to or lower than that of white bread on glucose test. (A glycemic response is the speed and the amount of food that increases blood sugar after eating.)

Continuous glucose surveillance of people with type 2 diabetics over three days has shown that, in participants with diabetes, post-meal sugar fluctuations were much smaller after eating a mango. This low glycemic fluctuation response could be beneficial for the long -term body, according to researchers.

“Mangos are a very appreciated fruit and criticized for its possible effects of glucose and elevation of weight,” said Dr. Sugandha Kehar, first author of the two studies.

“These studies show that in prescribed diets, mango consumption is not detrimental to blood sugar and can even be beneficial”, “

A second eight -week randomized trial published in the Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders – conducted at the Fortis C -DOC in Delhi with the Indian medical research funding – has strengthened the results.

Thirty-five adults with type 2 diabetes who replaced their breakfast bread with 250 g mango improvements have seen glucose on an empty stomach, the hemoglobin A1C (HBA1C) test which measures the average blood sugar level, insulin resistance, weight, size and HDL cholesterol. These markers are key indicators of diabetes control and global metabolic health.

“We have shown the advantages of small doses of mango instead of carbohydrates (bread) in breakfast in two detailed studies for the first time, throwing all speculation concerning the unwanted metabolic effects of his consumption,” explains Professor Anoo Misra, study chief and study manager.

“But the key is moderation and clinical supervision – it is not a license for unlimited mango holidays.”

I asked Professor Misra what meant eating mangoes in moderation.

“If your daily limit is 1,600 calories, all the mango calories must be part of this total, not additional. A mango of 250 g – about a small fruit – about 180 calories. As in the study, you would replace an equivalent amount of carbohydrates by mango to obtain the same results,” he told me.

Dr. Baxi says he tells his patients something similar.

“If the glucose levels are under control, I allow and even encourage my patients to take advantage of the mango in limited quantities – about half of the portions which give 15 g of carbohydrates – once or twice a day.”

Dr. BAXI said to his patients: control of portions is essential – mangoes should be consumed between meals, not as a dessert. Combine them with proteins or fibers and avoid combining with other carbohydrates or sweet shapes, such as juices and milkshakes.

Beyond its metabolic impact, mango occupies a much greater place in Indian life – a fruit that opens doors both figuratively and figuratively, bearing a cultural, social and even diplomatic meaning.

“Mango diplomacy” is a familiar sentence through the subcontinent, where the carefully chosen funds of the fruit can grease political agreements, strengthen alliances or smooth out tense negotiations.

Mango festivals arise in Indian cities, celebrating the cultural and economic importance of the fruit. The fruit is, at the same time, a favorite indulgence and a quietly powerful social currency. “Most Indians have a personal favorite mango and parish regional loyalties have long fueled stormy classification debates,” said Pushpeh Pant, historian based in Delhi and culinary expert.

“Good mangoes are not only eaten; they are ornaments like jewelry. The rules of mango push the best products to those ready to pay the highest price,” writes Sopan Joshi to Mangifera Indica: a biography of mango, a masterful story of fruit and admirers.

There are more than 1,000 varieties of cultivated mango in India. Joshi writes the mangoes of India vary according to the region: the varieties of the North and the East like the Langra, the Dasheri, the Chausa and the Himsagar are extremely sweet, while the types of the South offer a subtle-Douce flavor. The Alphono of Western India owes its signature taste to a unique balance of sugar and acid.

The fruit of Indian life is so central that the calendar year itself often begins with the flowering of mango. The poet Ghalib described the mango “a glass of sealed honey”, and hundreds of books were written by celebrating his pace.

Part indulgence, partly icon, mango continues to delight and inspire – now with a surprising head sign of science.