Daily consumption of red dates beneficial for type 2 diabetes patients: Study
Iran: Daily consumption of Ziziphus jujube (commonly known as jujube, red date, or Chinese date) has positive effects on blood sugar levels and lipid profiles in patients with type 2 diabetes, a recent study in Clinical Nutrition ESPEN has shown.
In the randomized controlled clinical trial, Parvin Mirmiran, University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, and colleagues aimed to assess the effect of dried Ziziphus jujube on lipid profiles, blood glucose, inflammatory factors, and anthropometric indices in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients.
The trial included 48 patients, aged 30–65 years. They were randomly assigned to 30 g Ziziphus jujube daily for 12 weeks (intervention group; n=24) and control (n=24) group. 10 ml of blood was taken from each patient after a 12- to 14-h overnight fasting at baseline and at the end of the 12th week.
Plasma levels of triglycerides(TGs), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol(HDL-C), total cholesterol(TC), and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol(LDL-C), interleukin-6(IL-6), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein(hs-CRP) were measured. Anthropometric indices were determined.
The study led to the following findings:
· Plasma FPG, TG, TC, and LDL-C decreased significantly up to −11.36%, −13.59%, −7.46%, −7.65% in the Ziziphus jujube group at the end of week 12 compared to baseline, respectively, and this reduction was significant in comparison with the control group.
· The plasma hs-CRP reduced significantly up to −24.46% in the Ziziphus jujube group at the end of week 12 compared to baseline, however, this reduction was not significant in comparison with the control group.
· There were no significant differences between the two groups in mean changes of body mass index, plasma HDL-C, and IL-6.
The researchers concluded, "our findings showed that daily consumption of Ziziphus jujube may have beneficial effects on the lipid profiles and blood glucose levels in T2D."
Reference:
Farhadnejad, Hossein, et al. "Effect of Ziziphus Jujube On Cardiometabolic Factors and Systemic Inflammation in Type 2 Diabetic Patients: a Randomized Controlled Trial." Clinical Nutrition ESPEN, vol. 49, 2022, pp. 53-60.
