Are Red Grapes Safe for Diabetes?

diabetes and red grapes

Before, diabetic patients are often advised to avoid any fruit that has high content of sugar. However, most modern diabetes diet will include fruits to form a healthy and well-balanced meal plan. It is important that you maintain strict control of the level of your blood sugar and avoid consuming excessive unhealthy food that can further complicate your condition.

Diabetes Diet

Your diabetes diet should aim towards controlling the symptoms and preventing common complications. For most patients, this mean eating high fiber diet that has less fats,  especially saturated fats. These fats can contribute to arterial plaques, which is a common complication of diabetes.

Diabetic patients should limit their intake of carbohydrates, especially sweet tasting food that can cause a spike in the blood sugar level. Generally, eating up to three handfuls of fruits each day should be fine for diabetic patients. Red grapes can be included in this.

Eating carbohydrate enrich foods can send your blood sugar level soaring. Fortunately, protein, fiber and fat can possibly mitigate such response. A good diabetic diet would mean controlling carbohydrate intake in every meal.

Glycemic Index of Red Grapes

Diabetic patients should refer to the Glycemic Index (GI) of a food to determine if it is safe for them. GI indicates how high or how fast the blood sugar level will rise as a response to a certain carbohydrate enrich food.

The glycemic load will also take into consideration the amount of carbohydrates in every food serving, including the GI of such food. As for the red grapes, it belongs in the middle of the GI chart and has a low GI load. The reason is because both fiber and water in a single serving of red grapes can modulate the body’s response to blood glucose.

Resveratrol in Red Grapes Can Benefit Diabetes 

Certain components found in red grapes can actually help to fight diabetes. A phytochemical known as Resveratrol exists in red grape skins. According to a study published in European Journal of Pharmacology, Resveratrol tend to modulate the response of the blood glucose by affecting how one’s body will secrete and use insulin in animal models of diabetes. Resveratrol may also affect one’s weight management and helps to reduce the risk of Obesity that can further complicate diabetes.

Further research is still ongoing to determine the impact of Resveratrol on diabetes. However, the potential benefits that come with red grapes make them a good choice of fruit in your diabetes diet.

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