For Type 2 diabetes, try Khorasan Wheat Tabbouleh

A complete dietary overhaul isn’t always the solution for diabetics. Sometimes, an ingredient substitution is what is needed to keep those familiar tastes and flavors while eating foods that are helping, not exacerbating, the chronic disease.

Take naturally gluten-free ancient whole grains vs. refined whole grains.

Research has shown that a replacement diet with products made with organic ancient khorasan wheat “could provide additive protective effects in reducing glucose, insulin, lipid and inflammatory risk factors, and in restoring blood redox balance in Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients compared to diet with product made with modern organic wheat,” according to a 2017 article in the European Journal of Nutrition.

Twenty-one patients with Type 2 diabetes were included in randomized, double-blinded crossover trial conducted by Italian researchers. The participants were assigned to eat bread, pasta, crackers and biscuits made using semiwhole flour from organic wheat that was either from ancient khorasan wheat or modern-control wheat for eight weeks in random order, according to the study. Laboratory tests were taken at the beginning and end of two intervention phases.

Results showed that the “metabolic risk profile improved only after the khorasan intervention period, as measured by a reduction in total and LDL (low-density lipoproteins or “bad”) cholesterol (3.7-3.4 percent less); insulin (16.3 percent less); and blood glucose (9.1 percent less).”

Through the month of November, Renew Houston is running a diabetes-conscious recipe each week. This week’s recipe is Khorasan Wheat Tabbouleh provided by Kamut Brand Khorasan Wheat.