Question:
From Caracas, Venezuela:
We're doing a thesis about development of a new product for diabetes. We
are interested in a jelly, because in my country it's too hard to find
food for diabetes and it's very expensive. It's not a big project, actually
we are in high school and we don't know too much about it. We have some
ideas and we wanted to hear from you, and we have a lot of questions, for
example: we were wondering if a diabetic can eat a gram of sugar contained in
a light ice cream or if everything they eat has to be prepared with Equal.
Answer:
A basic but very informative article I can refer you to is "Eating
Healthy, Eating Smart." It is in a journal put out by the American Diabetes
Association, Diabetes Forecast, December 1994. It reviews the most
recent ADA's nutrition recommendations for people with Type 1 and
Type 2 diabetes. As stated, sugar can be consumed by people with
diabetes, just like anyone else. Sugar is a type of carbohydrate and
as long as an individual knows how much carbohydrate they usually
consume at a meal or how much insulin they need for a given amount of
carbohydrate, blood glucose levels will not be disrupted.
Therefore, regular jelly or lower sugar jellies (if someone does not
want to use as much of their "carbohydrate allowance") can be used by
people with diabetes. Several good studies have been done by John P.
Bantle, MD, on the effects of different types of sugars if you desire
to do further research into this matter.
MH
Original posting 28 Oct 96
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