Diet and blood pressure in diabetics

A high-carbohydrate diet can cause moderate increases in blood pressure in type 2 diabetics, say scientists in the US. Dr Abhimanyu Garg and colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center say after 14 weeks of a high-carbohydrate diet this effect is more marked than in the case of diets high in monounsaturated fat. Their results are published in Diabetes Care. The team says after the initial 6-weeks there is no significant difference between the diets in systolic or diastolic blood pressure, but that after an 8 week-extension, the high carbohydrate diet is marked by a diastolic blood pressure 7 points higher than at the end of the 6-week phase, a systolic blood pressure 6 points higher, and heart rates higher by 7 to 8 beats per minute.

Reuters