Carrots, Tomatoes (Carotenoids) Lower Diabetes Risk in Non-Smokers
Report says that the risk of developing diabetes for people who don’t smoke nonsmokers — but not smokers — is lower in those with higher levels of carotenoids, which is a plant-derived antioxidants found in vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes and spinach in their blood.
Carotenoids may reduce the risk of diabetes by cutting oxidative stress caused by cigarette smoking, the authors of the study explain in the American Journal of Epidemiology. However, it was unclear if the rare smoker with a high carotenoid level still enjoyed a decreased risk of diabetes.
To investigate, Dr. David R. Jacobs, from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health in Minneapolis, and colleagues analyzed data from 4493 subjects, between 18 and 30 years of age, enrolled in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study.
The findings “suggest that smoking may nullify the protective effect (of high carotenoid levels), supporting the concept that antioxidant metabolism and the oxidative defense system behave differently in smokers than in nonsmokers,” the authors conclude.
Filed under Diabetes
