Index
Some foods have health benefits and are viewed as “superfoods.” Randomized human trials have supported this term.
Fruits like mango can help regulate blood sugar due to phytonutrients.
One of those foods is:
The cranberry
This fruit can be seen at the bottom of the tree in the phytochemical family.
However, did you know that blueberries could also help with blood sugar regulation? This is strange, as blueberries contain sugar, to the tune of 15 grams of sugar per cup of blueberries.
So how can a sweet fruit help with blood sugar?
Maybe you are a skeptic (which is a beneficial trait for a nutrition researcher), and you are thinking, “15 grams is not that much sugar, especially when a cup of blueberries also has almost 4 grams of fiber.” It is successful.
But it is essential to present Exhibit B:
The handle
One cup of mango chunks contains 23 grams of sugar and only 2.6 grams of fiber. And as any mango connoisseur knows, some varieties are pulpier with more thread, and some have very little fiber and a more delicious creaminess.
So you might be surprised to find that twelve weeks of mango consumption lowered blood sugar in a randomized trial.
The mango didn’t even come in whole fruit form but as a rapidly digested freeze-dried powder (which wouldn’t be the glycemic index adherents’ choice).
So how is it possible for a sugary fruit to lower blood sugar? It’s those old phytochemicals again. Specifically, mangoes contain a phytochemical called mangiferin, which can aid in the slow absorption of carbohydrates in the intestine.
But researchers don’t fully understand how mango phytochemicals do their job or even what phytochemicals are involved.
Fruits like cranberry and mango can help with blood sugar regulation, even though they contain sugar.
They may not have powerful effects, as medications do, at least in isolation, but a diet rich in different plants can compound the benefits of any single plant food.
Many people find the fruit delicious. It turns out that a delightful fruit is often relatively healthy.
Aside from mango, aptly named “The King of Fruits,” other delicious fruits (such as pomegranate) are also theoretically linked to improved blood sugar regulation.
