“Nature” provides many foods to combat disease
To name a few at random that could be added to the diabetic food list: Almonds, walnuts and other nuts, oatmeal, oatbran, fish and omega-3 fatty acids, olive oil, fruits and berries and the many other plant foods that provide vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytonutrients.
But here we will deal with almonds, for which there is plenty of reliable published information — and almonds, and other nuts, are a frequently recommended food supplement for several reasons, including their apparent affect on blood cholesterol.
People with diabetes are being urged to watch their cholesterol and blood pressure levels as well as their blood glucose levels
Results of a study from Denmark’s called the “Steno – 2” clinical trials, were published in 2008 and showed that, in addition to maintaining good blood-glucose control, it is also beneficial for diabetes sufferers to aggressively combat high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high triglyceride levels. A report of this study from the Steno Diabetes Center can be found at:
Almonds and Walnuts significantly reduce blood cholesterol levels
That’s according to a 2008 Mayo Clinic news release that listed the top 5 foods that help to lower cholesterol numbers. When included in a cholesterol lowering diet, almonds and walnuts were found to have a “marked improvement within just four weeks, and they may reduce LDL cholesterol (the “bad” one) by as much as 12 percent”.
The Mayo Clinic comments do not specify the amount of almonds eaten daily but frequently suggested in other references is about one ounce, roughly 20 to 25 almonds and these I believe should be in the unsalted, raw uncooked, or dry roasted, state. For myself, I found that 20 or 25 is too many to eat at one time, a few at each of several times was better, and the motivation being the potential cholesterol lowering effects. Elsewhere I have seen a suggested amount of 2-1/2 ounces – that sounds a lot to me but the point is to have them available and to make a conscious effort to include them for snacks or whatever to gain the benefits they provide.
Soaking almonds for maximum beneficial nutrition
Something that I suspect most people do not know. Shelled almonds have a substance in their brown skins called phytate, an anti-enzyme that can sometimes be difficult to digest. There are recommendations that, to help digestion and to gain the most nutrition from almonds by allowing their nutrients to be released, they should be soaked in water for about 12 hours and then dried out completely, possibly with heat not to exceed much above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, after which they can be stored as required.
It should also be noted that all nuts are high in calories, for almonds about 170 calories per ounce (28 grams) and this is because they are rich in monounsaturated fats. But these are the healthier fats. At the same time, almonds are low in the unhealthy saturated fat and they do contain many other essential minerals and other nutrients, including calcium, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and vitamin E — in the form of alpha-tocopherol. All of those and compounds called phytochemicals, which, their advocates claim, may help protect against cardiovascular disease and possibly other disease conditions.
There have been many reliably conducted studies done that have reported convincingly that when almonds are included in a person’s diet they help lower cholesterol levels and also provide many other health benefits that should not be ignored. A reference to a few of these reports is added at the end of this piece. After reading some of the articles relating to almonds I have to conclude that these nuts are just too good not to be part of a daily diet even if you are not diabetic. The right course of action might be, as I have seen suggested “To lower your risk of cardiovascular and coronary disease, enjoy a handful of almonds at least four times a week”.
Brazil Nuts, Walnuts, and other nuts
Probably the benefits of other nuts, such as Brazil nuts and walnuts, should also be reviewed. I believe a few Brazil nuts provide a daily requirement of selenium, another mineral that apparently can be deficient in diabetics. Joseph Guliano, M.D., a diabetic himself, in his book The Diabetic Male’s Essential Guide to Living Well, has much to say about minerals and states his opinion that diabetics should supplement all the essential minerals such as selenium, zinc, copper, manganese.
Another comment of interest on nuts in general is posted on the WebMD website, for which the web address is given at the end of this piece, in which Frank Hu, MD, PhD, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, tells WebMD that “Our epidemiological studies have shown eating about one ounce of nuts every day will reduce the risk of heart disease in the long run by 30%.”
Caution regarding nut allergies
I do realize that some people are allergic to nuts, especially children and for that reason I raise a caution flag here. Some nut allergies can be life threatening and fatalities have occurred. I personally recall an incident of a child who had unknowingly eaten nut-containing substances when away from normal home-supervision when at a summer-camp, the situation ending in the tragic death of the unsuspecting child. Two of my own children are allergic to nuts and my wife and I were always watchful. Neither my wife or myself have nut allergies and neither does a younger child of ours.
Almonds, Magnesium and Manganese
Almonds are a very good source of magnesium and manganese, minerals in which diabetics tend to be deficient, according to many reports. That is the opinion expressed in a 2001 website article “How Diabetes Works” by Craig Freudenrich, PH.D.
Similarly those views are shared by Michael T. Murray, N.D., as mentioned in his book Diabetes and Hypoglycemia. Dr. Murray suggests that, in addition to eating foods rich in magnesium, such as almonds, an additional magnesium supplement of 300 to 500 mg daily should be taken by diabetics, preferably in a highly absorbable form such as magnesium aspartate or citrate, together with 50 milligrams of vitamin B6. For manganese he recommends that a good daily dose for a diabetic is 30 milligrams.
[Another B vitamin that I have found helps with my feet problems is B-12, described in this article: Diabetic Neuropathy and B-12.]
Caution: Please note, anyone reading this article should obtain their own confirmations and opinions for themselves from healthcare professionals regarding the appropriateness of amounts and individual minerals and supplements mentioned here.
The United States DRI’s (Dietary Reference Intakes, published by the Food and Nutrition Board) recommends a magnesium intake of 420 mg per day for males aged 31 and older and 320 mg per day for females aged 31 and older. A quarter of a cup of almonds provides nearly 100 mg of magnesium, that’s almost a quarter of the recommended daily intake of magnesium for males and a little less than one third for females, but for me, I think that would be too many almonds in one day.
Magnesium is one of several important electrolytes, minerals in the human body that carry an electric charge and that have an essential role in maintaining balance in much of the body’s chemistry relating to muscles, nerves, heart function, fluid retention and other activities. Many doctors, often those who, as well as being medical practitioners, are also advocates of nutrition and complementary methods of treatment, claim that most adults, even non diabetics, do not obtain sufficient dietary magnesium for good health. Food sources of magnesium are leafy green vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, beans, lentils, and peanuts.
Mineral amounts in 1oz. of raw unsalted almonds |
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| Mineral | Amount | % RDI |
| Potassium | 206 mg | 0.059 |
| Phosphorus | 134 mg | 0.134 |
| Calcium | 70 mg | 0.070 |
| Magnesium | 77 mg | 0.22 |
| Selenium | 1.2 mcg | 0.034 |
| Iron | 1.2 mg | 0.08 |
| Zinc | 0.95 mg | 0.063 |
| Manganese | 0.7 mg | 0.14 |
Values courtesy Dr. R.D. Decuypere
I suspect that most doctors who treat diabetic patients are unlikely to be recommending food supplements such as almonds and minerals or vitamins and would probably not requisition blood tests that could indicate whether there are any deficiencies in some of those vitamin and mineral substances.
Regarding minerals, my own doctor usually tests only for potassium, and sometimes for sodium and chloride levels, all three of which are also electrolytes. Those tests are monitored together with the many standard diabetic tests for other things such as creatinine, eGFR, ALT, TSH, cholesterols, triglycerides.
Beyond those usual essential tests, I sometimes wonder whether it would make sense, at least perhaps annually, to test for a much wider range of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in addition to the above standards that follow the conventional diabetic protocols.
NOTE: In July 2003, the FDA approved qualified heart health claim for almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, some pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts, these nuts contain less than 4g of saturated fats per 50g. Packages of nut products that meet the FDA’s requirements will now be able to carry the following claim: “Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.”
For your further reference, many other individual food items, suitable for the diabetic menu, are discussed at out companion site Diabetic Food List. And more general diabetes topics can be found at Normal Blood Sugars and Diabetes.