A variety of vinegar flavors can dress your salad while helping to keep your glucose levels low.

(NAPS)—During November, National Diabetes Month, or at any time, there could be sweet news for the 29.1 million people the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates have diabetes.

According to Dr. Carol S. Johnston, professor and associate director of the Nutrition Program in the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion at Arizona State University, vinegar can be part of a diet strategy to manage blood glucose.

Why Vinegar

Here’s why: Eating foods that are high in starch, such as bread and rice, causes surges in blood glucose levels, Dr. Johnston explains. These high levels of blood glucose have been linked to higher or increased cardiovascular disease risk in healthy populations and can also increase complications among those with type 2 diabetes.

Consuming small amounts of vinegar—one to two tablespoons— before your meal, however, can reduce these high levels of glucose, she says.

In fact, for individuals with type 2 diabetes, studies have shown that consuming vinegar prior to meals on a daily basis can significantly reduce blood levels of A1c, a key indicator of average blood glucose concentrations.

In addition to consuming vinegar alone, consuming foods high in vinegar is an option. Vinegar is found in pickled products and salad dressings and can also be consumed before a meal on a salad.

Why it’s Important

Diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal. Most food you eat gets turned into glucose, or sugar, for your body to use for energy. The pancreas makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into the cells. If you have diabetes, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use its own insulin as well as it should. This causes sugar to build up in your blood.

Diabetes can have serious health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and lower-extremity amputations. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, but you don’t have to be in such statistics. The International Life Sciences Institute reports that “Several studies have demonstrated that vinegar can help reduce hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, hyperlipidemia and obesity.”

What else to do

In addition to adding vinegar to your diet, other helpful changes can include:

•Eat smaller portions. Learn what a serving size is for different foods and how many servings you need in a meal.

•Eat less fat. Choose fewer high-fat foods and use less fat for cooking.

•Exercise for at least 30 minutes at least five days a week.

•Follow your doctor’s advice about any health issues you experience.

Learn more

For more information on vinegar, including studies, recipes and more, visit www.versatilevinegar.org.

Managing Diabetes ABCs 

More than 29 million Americans—or about 9 percent of the U.S. population—have diabetes, and it is estimated that one in every four people with diabetes does not even know they have the disease. In the state of Michigan, it is estimated that 10 percent—or 758,300—of adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, while an additional 250,200 adults are currently undiagnosed. If left undiagnosed or untreated, diabetes can lead to serious health problems, including kidney failure, heart attack, and stroke.

This November, the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan (NKFM) is encouraging people with diabetes to “Control the ABCs of Diabetes” in order to prevent diabetes-related health complications down the road. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, causing more than 40 percent of all kidney failure cases. The good news is that people with diabetes can lower their chance of having diabetes-related health problems by managing their Diabetes ABCs:

A is for the A1C test (A-one-C).  This is a blood test that measures your average blood sugar (glucose) level over the past three months.

B is for Blood pressure.

C is for Cholesterol.

S is for stopping smoking.

“Many people do not understand that having diabetes can affect many parts of the body and is associated with serious complications such as kidney failure, heart disease and stroke, blindness, and more,” said Art Franke, Senior Vice President of Programs at the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan. “Managing the ABCs of diabetes can help prevent diabetes-related health complications.”

If you have diabetes, ask your health care team what your A1C, blood pressure, and cholesterol numbers are, and what they should be. Your ABC goals will depend on how long you have had diabetes and other health problems. For additional diabetes resources, community events and programs, and more, visit www.nkfm.org/DiabetesMonth or call the NKFM at 800-482-1455. You can also check out the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) for great diabetes management tools and information at www.YourDiabetesInfo.org/DiabetesMonth2014.