There may be good news for diabetics. Doctors can predict which diabetic patients may come down with the nerve condition called neuropathy by measuring their triglycerides, according to new research. Diabetics with elevated triglycerides are much more likely to suffer from the condition, which can cause tingling, pain and numbness in the hands, arms, feet and legs, according to a study from the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. Diabetic neuropathy affects about 60 percent of the 23 million people in the U.S. who have diabetes.
When researchers looked at the data from more than 427 people who had diabetes as well as neuropathy, they found that those with elevated levels of triglycerides were much more likely to have a worsening of symptoms over the course of a year. Other factors--like a higher blood glucose or higher levels of other fats in the blood--did not appear to be significant. The research appeared online in the journal Diabetes.
"In our study, elevated serum triglycerides were the most accurate at predicting nerve fiber loss, compared to all other measures," says Kelli A. Sullivan, Ph.D., co-first author of the study, according to NewsRx Health & Science.
Getting those triglyceride levels down may help patients avoid the disorder. "Aggressive treatment can be very beneficial to patients in terms of their neuropathy," said Eva L. Feldman, MD, senior author of the study, according to NewsRx Health and Science.
There's another reason to work on lowering your triglycerides: high numbers put you at risk for cardiovascular disease.
"Lowering your triglycerides can be beneficial to your overall health," says Kelly A. O'Connor, registered dietitian and diabetes educator at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore.
How to Lower Your Levels
Decrease the amount of fat in your diet.
Use "good" fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) and avoid saturated fats. This means skipping the butter and using an oil such as olive, canola, peanut or sunflower instead. Walnuts and almonds are a good source of monounsaturated fat, but enjoy them in small amounts as they are high in calories.
Avoid fast food restaurants and fried foods, O'Connor recommends, and cut down on commercial baked goods since they may contain trans fats.
Keep your fat intake to between 30 and 40 grams per day, she says, and be sure to exercise regularly.
At this point, I’m not going to not post some news about how one aspect of health directly correlates with fixing another, just because they have a different viewpoint on how to get there than I do… It could be very helpful for those suffering from neuropathy to know that lowering their triglycerides will help improve their symptoms.
It is a given that they are always going to say “reduce your fat intake,” no matter how erroneous that is… You’re just preaching to choir. 99.9% of us know that lowering lipid profile is with lowering carbohydrate intake, and alcohol consumption.
Agree, Tom. I experienced the same. Carbs lower (fat intake up), triglycerides correspondingly lower. We’re not alone.
Canola oil is also one of the unhealthiest oils to use. Sunflower oil isn’t good either. Saturated fats are the only safe fats to use for cooking.
Lizmari’s right. It’s going to be a while until this low fat message is changed. Institutions, organizations & healthcare professionals will have to admit they were dead wrong. The low-fat food industry will collapse:)
Interestingly enough, when I was diet and exercise controlled alone in my 30s, all of a sudden, after I kept having high liver enzymes (gee, doc, what you you think that’s about? Quit asking me if I’ve gotten sick lately!), the first sign that my diabetes was going out of control was a normal cholesterol reading but a high triglyceride reading. And that was when I was on a low-fat, low-carb diet! And guess what? Even though I have a reasonable a1c now, I do have neuropathy and am being treated for that.
I’d like to see some research, too, on how high-carb, sat fat diets affect the tri’s.
Thanks, Liz, for posting this info - I always find your information very interesting and relevant to me!
Well, the only saturated fat I ever eat is coconut oil (which is quite good for cooking btw - well depending on what you are cooking that is - because it doesn’t go rancid at high heat).Makes great popcorn!
I use mostly olive oil if I fry something and on my salads. I have a few things is that might contain canola oil but I hardly use them. I don’t really like the taste of canola oil by itself anyhow - it seems cheaped somehow. yuck.
I think too much saturated fats or deep fried fats are not good anyone period - diabetes or not. You need some fat though but there are other alternatives.
Walnuts are also a good source of Omega-3 (although flax seed is the best even better than salmon!) and almonds are high in calicum (we were discussing almond milk in another thread so another point for almond milk!)
Are the Triglycerides what they test when they do your cholestrol right? I have never had high cholestrol so I guess I don’t dont have to worry about that.
When they are talking about keeping your fat intake between 30 and 40 grams are they talking about ANY type of fat not just saturated right? I am assuming yes.
Olive oil is wonderful, but not healthy when used for frying. Heating adversely effects non-saturated fats. Know you’re vegan, but some people add butter to olive oil when sauteeing or frying to lower the burning point.
Virgin coconut oil is much better for higher temperatures than olive oil.
Yes, I know, I have heard the debate - one minute olive oil is good to cook with the next it isn’t. One minute canola is the oil to cook with and one minute it isnt. Maybe olive oil isn’t perfect but I would rather use it than any of the other oils like canola or vegetable. They “experts” change their minds so often about the oils - sometimes you wonder what is driving it.
I am not worried about it as I still believe the saturated animal fats are worse for peoples health when heated but everyone does what they think best for themselves you know and that is fine with me. I am of the belief that animal fats (since they are technically dead) are already starting to rot once the animal dies - the whole idea of eating dead fats just grosses me out - even butter. It is like you can see the grease floating around in there! Oh well. But even if it didn’t gross me out I wouldn’t eat it for ethical reasons anyhow.
I only cook/fry things about three times a week soI I’m not too concerned. I use the low flame. But I’ll break out the coconut oil once and a while - it doesn’t go with everything you cook/fry with unfortunately but I will use it if I run out of my other oil. I like to save my coconut oil for my skin.
You’re right. Olive oil is far better than canola or other vegetable oils. I love the flavor. I’ll use coconut oil & add olive oil towards the end of cooking for the flavor, or add a little olive oil when it’s done cooking. I don’t like oily, heavy food & use as little oil as I can get away with in cooking.
Know it grosses you out & you’re vegan & your right to eat however you like, but saturated fats are far more stable when cooked than vegetable oils. It’s chemistry & fact.
I just realized today that chocolate also has saturated fat. On my quest for some unsweetned chocolate (which didn’t go so well), I realized that even pure 100% raw chocolate (or cacao) unprocessed has saturated fat! Cocoa (cacao) butter which where most white chocolate is make from has saturated fat too.
So there are other forms of non animal saturated fat besides coconut and palm oil. I never noticed that before.
But not that we should be eating too much of it anyways.
Off topic, on my chocolate shopping quest today, I was quite mismayed at the fact that even unsweetened straight dark chocolate was high in carbs (and yes I went into the baking section too). Wah! So I settled for some roasted cacao nibs which are only 6 carbs for 2 tablespoons- of course not much of a serving but there is fiber so we shall see. Funny how I found a bar of Lindt 85% with some sugar in it that had lower carbs per serving than the pure unsweetened Ghirardellis so I got that - it was a better serving too. I am sure one of the labels have to be wrong.
ugh, how frustrating! I am not sure at how I feel about chocolate being on my D s**t list - even dark unsweetened. Sigh.
I will never give up chocolate! NEVER!!! lol My tri’s went down with just low carbing… really, don’t worry too much about your fat intake… You’ll be okay.
Yeah, I am not worried about it. I just never noticed until now that there was saturated fat in chocolate - I used to always eat the extra dark dark chocolate (no milk). But I was dismayed about the carbs today. Glad I am not a chocoholic - but I would like to enjoy some every once and a while.
Funny to when I took my diabetes class, the nutritionist did a little slide show on fats. She said all of the saturated fats are in animal products except coconut oil and palm oil. She never even mentioned chocolate! Weird! It makes sense that it would have some though - cocoa butter is so creamy and heavy. I am not surprised now when I think about it.
