Apricots in type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus develops due to disorders in the production of the hormone insulin and is chronic. Diet in such cases is an integral part of treatment. And what about fruits? On the one hand, it is a tasty source of vitamins, on the other hand, it is a supplier of a sweet component that is undesirable for diabetics. Are fruits, in particular, apricots, necessary for diabetes?

Apricots are rich in minerals, organic acids, phenolic compounds and carbohydrates. The fruit can be eaten fresh or dried, but most apricots produced worldwide are eaten fresh. [ 1 ]

Apricot is a rich source of sugars, fiber, minerals, bioactive phytochemicals and vitamins such as A, C, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and pantothenic acid. Among the phytochemicals, phenolic, carotenoid and antioxidant substances play an important role in their biological value. [ 2 ]

Can you eat apricots if you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes?

In 2013, 382 million people were diagnosed with diabetes; this figure is expected to rise to 592 million by 2035. [ 3 ]

The tendency to diabetes type 1 is inherited, although it may not manifest itself immediately. It is not cured, but people can live, in principle, a full life with it. Under two conditions: regular insulin injections and diet. [ 4 ]

Type 2 diabetes has various causes. Excess weight, sedentary lifestyle, stress, pancreatic pathologies, poor nutrition – any of these factors or their combination can trigger the process. The disease is treatable, but it is not an easy task. [ 5 ]

• Both types of the disease have quite a few dietary restrictions. They mainly concern carbohydrate-containing foods, including fruits.

Is it possible to eat apricots with diabetes type 1 and 2? After all, in addition to sugar components, the fruits are saturated with vital compounds. Especially vitamins, the very name of which contains the word "vita", that is, life.

• Kiwi, tangerines, pomelo, plums, watermelons, pears, raspberries, apricots – there are almost no prohibited fruits and berries for type 1 diabetes.

It is not the assortment or varieties that are regulated, but the quantity and time of consumption. An exception may be grapes, pomegranate seeds and juicy melons - watermelons, melons - are consumed in limited quantities. And you will have to give up bananas and pineapples. Almost all dried fruits are also dangerous, since the sugar concentration in them is too high.

However, experienced specialists believe that no fruit will do any harm if you do not abuse it, and that plant fruits, including sweet ones, should be included in the diabetic diet. They contain many substances that are useful for the body, and provide taste pleasure, which also cannot be replaced by anything. The phrase "if you can't, but really want to, then you can" is probably about such cases, and each person in their choice should be guided by common sense and intuition.

Apricots for gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes is diagnosed when the sugar level in venous blood taken on an empty stomach falls within the "corridor" between 5.1 and 7.0 mmol/l. This is not the norm, but it is not a pathology either. Such uncertainty, associated with a violation of carbohydrate metabolism, is first detected in pregnant women, more often in the second half of the term. [ 6 ]

• The diagnosis mentioned is a consequence of natural physiological changes; it occurs in the presence of risk factors, but it means that sugar levels were normal before pregnancy.

Blood sugar levels can be reduced by changing your diet and exercising. However, if these measures do not reduce blood sugar levels sufficiently, you will also need to take medications. These may be tablets or insulin injections. [ 7 ] Apricots are included in the diet of a pregnant woman with gestational diabetes. Other fruits are also allowed - plums, peaches, grapefruits, apples. They promote digestion, enrich with vitamins, improve appetite. Preference is given to fruits of the green-yellow color range.

• Of course, a woman should resolve all issues related to nutrition together with a doctor. The responsibility of the expectant mother is to ensure that the fetus receives adequate nutrition, and that she herself is healthy and cheerful.

When eating apricots with diabetes, you should eat less other sweet fruits, especially at breakfast, when insulin sensitivity is at its highest.

• There is also an alternative opinion. For example, it is recommended to completely exclude all fruits, including dried ones, as a source of unwanted sugar. This applies not only to glucose, but also to fructose.

The idea is that if the sugar level is elevated after eating fruit, it means that the body does not tolerate them. And as if any person with diabetes can do without them, drawing vitamins and other useful substances from nuts and permitted vegetables.

Benefits

Benefits of apricots for diabetes

The delicate aromatic fruits contain many components that bring pleasure and benefit to healthy people. The question of the benefits of apricots for diabetes for a sick person must be decided based on the recommendations of the attending physician and their own taste preferences.

Here are just some of the properties of fruits:

• contains antioxidants, a lot of potassium, provitamin A, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, fiber and replenishes their deficiency;
• increases hemoglobin;
• counteracts obesity;
• prevents goiter;
• removes toxins;
• improves brain function;
• normalizes stomach acidity.

When discussing the problem, there is advice to buy unripe apricots for diabetes, arguing that they contain significantly less sugar, and there are quite enough useful ingredients. Anyone who follows this advice should take into account that the laxative effect of such apricots is even stronger than that of ripe ones.

• Apricot tree fruits are very useful for women expecting and nursing a child. They prevent constipation, have a positive effect on the fetus, lactation and milk quality.

Apricot fruits have different varieties and contain different levels of polyphenols as summarized by Macheix et al. Chlorogenic acid (5-caffeoylquinic acid) is the dominant phenolic compound in apricots. Other phenolic compounds identified in apricots are neochlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, n-coumaric acid, ferulic acid and their esters. (+)-Catechin and (-)-epicatechin are also identified in apricot fruits and their products. Flavonols in apricots occur mainly as glucosides and rutinosides quercetin and kaempferol, however, quercetin 3-rutinoside (rutin) is predominant. [ 8 ] Apricot fruits contain varying levels of phytochemicals such as vitamins, carotenoids and polyphenols, which are determinants of the flavor, color and nutritional value of the fruit.

Apricots contain nutrients such as β-carotene, retinol, vitamin E and lycopene. [ 9 ], [ 10 ]

Unfortunately, apricots can also be harmful to diabetics – primarily because of the abundance of sugar. They are also incompatible with meat and some other products; due to their incompatibility, stomach problems and a sharp rise in blood sugar can occur.

• However, no matter how many words of praise are heard about honey fruits, you should not consider them a panacea and try to eat only them. The normal portion for a healthy person is limited: from 100 to 300 g per day.

When talking about apricots, we mean primarily fresh fruit. Dried, canned, frozen, and even the pits of the fruit have their benefits. By the way, the latter are even used to make filling for homemade pies. Not to mention jam, pastille, compotes, teas, vareniki, pies and cakes, the recipes for which every housewife has.

Skilled hands use everything, including the leaves and bark, resinous secretions of the apricot tree. And not only as a food product, but also as a cosmetic product. Women add the pulp to shampoos, and ground pits to scrubs.

Apricot kernels for diabetes

Not everyone knows that the seeds can be useful, so they are easily thrown away after eating the fruit.

Apricot kernels consist of glycosides including amygdalin, oils including oleic acid and linoleic acid, essential oils such as benzaldehyde. In addition, apricot kernels contain polyphenols such as flavonoids and, respectively, gallic acid. [ 11 ] The presence of oleic and linoleic acids in the apricot kernel increases its nutritional and medicinal value. [ 12 ]

They have antiproliferative (anti-cancer), [ 13 ] antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal [ 14 ] and other pharmacological properties. [ 15 ]

Dried apricots for diabetes

When talking about apricots for diabetes, we cannot help but mention whether dried apricots are useful for diabetes. These are dried fruits with the pits removed. The polyphenol profile of dried apricots is as follows: epicatechins, chlorogenic acid, rutin, ferulic and gallic acids. [ 16 ]

There are disagreements among experts on this issue. Some argue that dried apricots, like other dried fruits, are dangerous because they contain high concentrations of sugar. Others insist that the main thing is the glycemic index, and complications can be easily avoided if you strictly dose the products, and dried apricots especially.

Its numerous useful substances necessary for the diabetic organism also speak in its favor. When choosing dried fruit, pay attention to its appearance. Natural processing does not give as bright as chemical, but high-quality products. Chemicals make the product beautiful, but dangerous.

What can and what can not?

What fruits are not allowed for diabetics?

Information about which fruits should not be eaten with diabetes can be found in special tables. They also list other products, but fruits are of particular importance, since they have a sugar-increasing effect. The patient should know about each fruit: which of them can sharply increase, and which stabilizes the sugar level?

• Previously, it was believed that fruits are unacceptable in the diet of a diabetic. Modern medicine is convinced that without them, a person lacks vitamins, and this does not contribute to treatment. And that correctly selected fruits, including apricots for diabetes, on the contrary, normalize glucose levels.

Fresh apples, oranges, pears, peaches are also on the list of permitted fruits. Moderation is the second condition for eating fruit. You shouldn't get too carried away with even unsweetened fruits. So, 3 apricots are enough. The best time for them is the first half of the day, between meals.

The goal of the diet is to minimize sugar spikes. Fast carbohydrates are not allowed, so sweet grapes, watermelon, cherries, bananas, and melons are prohibited. Dried apricots are also in this category, as are non-home-made fruit and berry juices. Although some sources say that dried fruits that are not dangerous when fresh are allowed. And figs, raisins, dates, and dried banana slices are prohibited.

It should be noted that even in a somewhat “reduced” form, the fruit menu for diabetes is varied enough so that the patient’s life is not deprived of taste pleasures.

Contraindications

Contraindications

According to some, diabetes is a contraindication for the consumption of all sweet fruits, including apricots in all forms. Others believe that apricots in moderate quantities will be very useful for diabetes. But the real contraindications are different: liver disease, allergies, peptic ulcers, pancreatitis.

Perhaps such a contradiction is caused by individual differences in patients. But there are also general contraindications, such as hypotension, age under one year, and a tendency to digestive disorders.

Complications

Possible complications

Eating apricots on an empty stomach with diabetes is fraught with disorders, including poisoning. Complications of the same nature are possible if you eat fruit after a dense meat meal.

• It should be remembered that canned apricots and compotes should not be eaten: they are sweeter than fresh and dried ones. At the same time, bright yellow fresh juice is healthy and is better absorbed than whole fruits.

A large portion causes diarrhea, and in those prone to hypotension, a further decrease in blood pressure. Among the rare but possible complications observed were dizziness, hypotension, respiratory and cardiac failure, intussusception due to small intestinal obstruction caused by the use of dried apricots. [ 17 ], [ 18 ]

Reviews

The reviews are dominated by enthusiastic words about the unique taste qualities of sunny fruits, associated with eastern markets. Some call them tropical, but they are more eastern, and the south of Ukraine, where they also bear fruit, is not yet tropical.

People share recipes for jam and pastila, vareniki and pies, tea from leaves and bark. Specifically, little is written about the benefits of apricots for diabetes. One doctor recommends that diabetics completely give up all berries and fruits and cites reviews from people with type 2 diabetes who have achieved remission solely due to such a sacrifice.

The topic of apricots in diabetes is ambiguous. Those suffering from this disease should approach the issue thoroughly, relying on the recommendations of the attending endocrinologist and the body's reaction to the product. If the state of health and blood counts do not change, and the doctor does not forbid it, then infrequent consumption of apricots in moderate quantities is not dangerous.