A new study shows that a low-glycemic index diet is significantly better than a high-fiber diet for blood glucose control in patients who have type 2 diabetes, according to media reports Friday.

The study divided the 210 individuals with type 2 diabetes randomly into two groups to eat the low-glycemic diet and the high-fiber diet for 6 months respectively.

The results show that the haemoglobin level (blood glucose level) decreased by 0.50 percent in the low-glycemic diet group compared with the 0.18 percent in the high-fiber diet group, clearly indicating that high-fiber diets were not good for type-2 diabetes patients.

Furthermore, levels of HDL (good for heart stroke control) cholesterol levels rose with the low-glycemic diet but fell with the high-fiber diet.

"There's nothing fancy here," lead researcher Dr David Jenkins of University of Toronto said, "Slowly released carbohydrates seem to have a benefit in terms of metabolism in these diabetic patients. If you release carbohydrates into the digestive track slowly, it gets absorbed slowly, and over time the tissues become insulinized, taking up the glucose without much of it appearing in the blood or as a rise in blood sugar."

Although the overall blood-sugar reductions were small, "this is a very important trial," Jenkins said, "Its results carry additional weight compared to many of the past trials."

(Agencies via Xinhua December 19, 2008)