The best and worst drinks for people with diabetes
<p><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;">Choosing the right drinks for people with diabetes is as important as choosing the right foods, and it isn’t always simple. Is coffee helpful or harmful to insulin resistance? Does zero-calorie diet soda affect your blood sugar? Some studies may only add to the confusion. We reviewed the research and then asked three top registered dietitians, who are also certified diabetes educators, what they tell their clients about seven everyday drinks for people with diabetes. Here’s what to know before you sip.</span></p>
<h4><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial;">Drink more: Water</span></h4>
<p>Drinking enough water has so many health benefits. But could downing a few glasses of H2O help control your blood sugar? A study in the journal Diabetes Care suggests so: The researchers found that people who drank 475ml (two cups’ worth) or less of water a day were about 30 percent more likely to have high blood sugar than those who drank more than that daily. The connection seems to be a hormone called vasopressin, which helps the body regulate hydration. Vasopressin levels increase when a person is dehydrated, which prompts the liver to produce more blood sugar.</p>
<p><strong>How much:</strong> Experts recommend six to nine 250ml glasses of water per day for women and slightly more for men. You’ll get some of this precious fluid from fruit and vegetables and other fluids, but not all of it. “If you’re not in the water habit, have a glass before each meal,” recommends registered dietitian Constance Brown-Riggs, a certified diabetes educator. “After a few weeks, add a glass at meals too.” If you’re already meeting your water targets, there’s no need to push it further.</p>
<h4>Drink more: Milk</h4>
<p>Moo juice isn’t just a kids’ drink – it’s one of the best drinks for people with diabetes, too. It provides the calcium, magnesium, potassium and vitamin D your body needs for many essential functions. “Low-fat or fat-free milk is a great beverage for people with diabetes,” Brown-Riggs says. Drinking more milk can also help prevent strokes (a concern for many people with diabetes) by 7 percent, according to research from the <em>Journal of the American Heart Association</em>. Bonus: The researchers also found that eating cheese produced the same effect. If you’re lactose intolerant or allergic to dairy, eating plenty of dark green vegetables can help you obtain the calcium and other electrolytes you need.</p>
<p><strong>How much: </strong>Experts recommend eating two to three daily servings of dairy products, including low-fat or fat-free milk. Milk does contain carbohydrates so remember to factor in 12 grams of carbohydrate for every 250ml glass. “Drink milk with a meal so your body can handle the natural rise in blood sugar that happens when we eat carbohydrates,” says registered dietitian Angela Ginn, a certified diabetes educator.</p>
<h4>Drink more: Tea</h4>
<p>No kilojoules, big flavour, and a boatload of antioxidants have made tea – particularly green and black – trendy for health reasons, especially when it comes to drinks for people with diabetes. Sipping more than three cups of tea a day could lower the risk for developing diabetes, other researchers found. Tea may also help reduce your risk of stroke and heart disease. The exception to these diabetic drinks: sweetened, bottled iced teas, which have tons of added sugar.</p>
<p><strong>How much:</strong> Three to four cups of tea are OK for most people; just be sure the caffeine doesn’t keep you awake at night. More is fine if you opt for decaf. And watch what you add: Avoid sugar and full-fat milk and cream.</p>
<h4>Drink carefully: Coffee</h4>
<p>A 2018 systematic review and meta-analysis in Nutrition Reviews found that coffee drinkers are at lower risk for developing type 2 diabetes. (A compound in coffee called chlorogenic acid seems to slow absorption of glucose into the bloodstream.) But other research indicates that for people who already have diabetes, coffee may raise blood sugar or make the body work harder to process it. Bottom line: It comes down to how coffee affects your individual blood sugar. What many people with diabetes add to their coffee may be the real issue. “Sugar, sweetened creamers, and high-fat milk and half-and-half can raise your blood sugar and your weight,” Brown-Riggs says.</p>
<p><strong>How much:</strong> Experts say sipping two to three cups a day is probably fine, but if you’re having a tough time controlling your blood sugar, it may be worth cutting out coffee to see if it makes a difference. “Everyone’s blood sugar response to foods is unique and individual,” Ginn says.</p>
<h4>Drink carefully: Diet soft drink</h4>
<p>Are fizzy, zero-calorie drinks a brilliant choice for people concerned about diabetes, or could they do more harm than good? One 2018 study in Current Developments in Nutrition looked at over 2,000 people and found that those who drank diet soft drink every day increased their chances of developing diabetes, leading researchers to conclude that diet soda itself could be a risk factor. The news may be even worse for diabetics drinking zero-calorie sodas. Researchers in Australia looked at 600 patients with diabetes and found that drinking more than four cans of diet soft drink a week doubled their chances of developing proliferative diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease that’s a complication of diabetes.</p>
<p><strong>How much:</strong> If you have a soft drink habit, it’s probably OK to sip one zero-calorie drink a day instead of a sugary version, but given the research, it’s best to wean yourself off. Make sure to also drink healthy drinks for people with diabetes like water and tea. Resist the temptation to see diet soft drink as a “magic eraser” allowing you to indulge in foods like chips, dips, sweets, fries, and burgers. People who enjoyed their diet soft drink as part of a healthy diet had lower risk of high blood sugar and high cholesterol than those who ate fried and sugary foods in one study in the <em>American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.</em></p>
<h4><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial;">Drink less: Soft drink and sugary drinks</span></h4>
<p>With upwards of 10 teaspoons of sugar in every 375ml can or bottle, sweet drinks can send your blood sugar soaring – and boost your risk for weight gain, high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. One sugary drink a day can add 630 empty kilojoules and about 40 to 50 grams of blood-sugar-raising carbohydrates to your diet, all of which can cause you to pack on belly fat and increase inflammation and insulin resistance – boosting the risk for diabetes and heart disease. Bottom line: Soda and sugary fruit drinks are some of the worst drinks for people with diabetes.</p>
<p>“If you have diabetes, cutting out soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks is one of the most powerful ways to control blood sugar, lose weight, and improve your health,” says Ginn. “Switching to healthier drinks can save hundreds of calories and a lot of carbohydrates. It’s often one of my first goals when I work with someone newly diagnosed with diabetes.”</p>
<p><strong>How much: </strong>None, ideally. Think of soft drink as you would a decadent dessert that you might indulge a taste of once in a blue moon. If you have a soda habit, cut back by drinking a smaller size for a week or two, or mixing half regular soda with half diet soda or soda water to reduce your kilojoule and carb intake. Aim to go sugar-free: Water and soda water (including zero-calorie fruit-flavoured types) are ideal, and diet soft drink is an option for diabetic drinks but don’t exceed one a day.</p>
<h4>Drink less: Fruit juice</h4>
<p>Your mum served up OJ every day with breakfast, and you grew to love it. The labels display tempting photos of colourful fruit. But are juices healthy diabetic drinks for blood sugar and weight control? A regular juice habit is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in Diabetes Care. In terms of nutrition, a piece of real fruit is a better deal (and science is backing that people with diabetes can, and should, eat fruit). A 125ml serving of 100 percent orange juice has 247 kilojoules, 13.6 grams carbohydrates, and no fibre; compare that to a small fresh orange, which has 188 kilojoules, 11 grams carbohydrates, and 2 grams of blood-sugar-controlling fibre. That said, people with diabetes can indulge in a little 100 percent fruit juice once in a while, says registered dietitian Dawn Menning, a certified diabetes educator. “They should just know the amount of juice they are consuming and factor the number of carbohydrates into their eating plan,” she says.</p>
<p><strong>How much: </strong>Juice lovers, eat fruit or switch to a low-sodium veggie juice, which is much lower in calories and carbohydrates than fruit juice. If you’re really craving juice, try a 125ml serving with a meal. Test your blood sugar afterward, and then repeat with the same meal for the next three or four days. If your blood sugar doesn’t rise more than 35 to 50 points, a little juice could be fine.</p>
<p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>
<p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.co.nz/healthsmart/diabetes/the-best-and-worst-drinks-for-people-with-diabetes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.</em></p>
