Number of people diagnosed with diabetic mellitus every year has never declined and keeps on rising day by day. Diabetes is a disease reflecting a condition of high level of blood sugar (glucose) due to the inability of the human body to produce enough insulin-diabetes type 1 or unable to utilise the available insulin-diabetes type 2 and the most reported cases. Insulin plays a vital role in regulating blood sugar and any problem with insulin can lead to abnormal levels of blood sugar which in turn will lead to organ damages if left untreated or badly controlled.
People with diabetes are often advised to take care of their diet and adhere to treatment such as oral antidiabetic drugs or injectable insulin. Such a diet should consist of complete and balanced nutrition including abundance of vegetables and fruits, good proteins, high fibre from grains, less fatty oily food and most importantly, low sugary food. Fruits such as strawberries might impose questions of is it good for diabetes? It is a definite yes, especially sugar free strawberries.
Many might have thought that patients with diabetes are prohibited to have any food that contains sugar but that is totally wrong. In fact, it can be very dangerous if these patients are low in sugar and sudden low blood sugar level might actually cause brain injury and possible death when it is prolonged without any medical intervention. Although sugar free strawberries sound like containing no sugar at all, it actually contains the natural sugar from strawberries fruits itself. Luckily, strawberries are placed in groups of fruits with low glycaemic index. Glycaemic index is a guide for diabetes to make sure that the food they eat has low glycaemic index as food with high glycaemic index may cause a spike of blood glucose level. This makes sugar free strawberries as the best fruit to snack on or to satisfy cravings for sugary sweet food.
Sugar free strawberries contain many other nutritional benefits, especially that benefits people with diabetes. Apart from low calories content, the polyphenol which is pigment that gives colour to fruits, is high in strawberries. Anthocyanins, the major polyphenol pigments help improve the insulin resistance linked with diabetes. These anthocyanins also help reduce risk of getting cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack by better regulation of blood cholesterol and the endothelial function (blood vessels). Since diabetes causes a person to be susceptible to cardiovascular diseases, sugar free strawberries may help to reduce the likelihood of the devastated progression of diabetes. Strawberries also contain high fibre that helps to slow down absorption of sugar and help the person to feel full longer. These features help patients from falling into obesity which may worsen diabetes.
Beside all the nutrition goodness that seems to mainly beneficial for patients with diabetes, sugar free strawberries are high in vitamin C and antioxidants. These components help to boost the body immunity level to fight off diseases such as infectious diseases. Vitamin C also helps to improve skin health in general and fasten wound healing. Since patients are prone to get wounds due to hindrance in the body immunity and a compromised blood system, vitamin C aids in increasing blood flow to the wound area and promotes better healing. You may actually try yourself to see how fast vitamin C heals a wound by eating fruits high with vitamin C or vitamin C supplements when you get a mouth ulcer or sores. Last but not least, sugar free strawberries are no doubt a perfect fruit that helps people with diabetes to have a healthier and fulfilling life.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8614674/
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jafc.6b00857
