Traditional diets may be beneficial to the health because they contain a high fibre to starch ratios. One of the main problems with adoption of the Western diet is that the fibre to starch ratio is low, which deleteriously affects glycaemia. Research suggests that the higher glycaemic response from such refined food diets may be a contributory factor in the development of fructose induced insulin resistance. This explains the benefits of adopting a traditional diet regarding body fat levels, insulin sensitivity, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Comparisons of traditional and Western diets have been performed in clinical trials and results consistently show benefits for the high fibre traditional diets compared to the low fibre Western style diets. These results tend to be consistent between different traditional diets including Australian Aborigine, the Mediterranean or the Okinawan diet, suggesting that the common defining factor in these diets may be the high fibre to starch ratios.
For example1, the traditional Australian Aborigine bush potato (Solanum costata) has been compared to the Western potato (Solanum tuberosum) with regard its glycaemic effects. Caucasian and Aborigine subjects were fed both potatoes and the glycaemic effects measured. In Aborigine subjects, the areas under the curve for glucose and insulin were 34% and 42% smaller, respectively, following the bush potato compared to the Western potato. In Caucasian subjects the area under the curve for insulin was 19 % lower following consumption of the bush potato, but the glucose response did not differ. The Aborigine subjects had glucose and insulin responses that were 2.5 times greater than the Caucasian subject following consumption of the Western potato and insulin responses that were twice as large as the Caucasian subjects following consumption of the Western potato. Therefore Western foods such as the potato may contribute to the development of lifestyle disease.
These results support previous findings from the same research group when comparing traditional Aborigine foods with Western alternatives regarding their glycaemic response (here). The higher glycaemic responses to the Western foods in the Aborigine subjects suggests that the incorporation of Western foods to their diets may have more pronounced deleterious effect, when compared to Caucasians. Interestingly the Caucasian subjects did not show a difference in glucose response between the bush potato and the Western potato. The authors commented that this may reflect limitations on the measurements of blood glucose from venous blood compared to capillary blood. Western foods may therefore have pronounced diabetogenic and obesogenic effects in aborigine native populations. In particular, Western foods may lead to the development of insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome, which increases the risk for developing type 2 diabetes and obesity.
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