How can diabetics avoid worrying about "eating" when faced with "food temptation"? Let's hear what the professor has to say

The Spring Festival is a happy festival, but for diabetics, it is a severe test. Because of the disease, some things cannot be eaten casually. Therefore, after the Spring Festival, the condition of many diabetics will obviously worsen. So in order to avoid such a situation, we will discuss with you today how to keep our diabetics stable and healthy during the Spring Festival.

Drug care combined with diet can achieve twice the result with half the effort

There are three dishes today. The first one is multi-grain rice, followed by the golden lucky bag, and the last one is the lucky rice. The glycemic index of multi-grain rice is relatively low, more than half lower than that of rice. In addition, the golden lucky bag contains shrimp, meat and refined protein. Refined protein is a major source of muscle metabolism. Usually, we diabetic patients cannot control refined protein when controlling blood sugar. In addition, bean skin plant protein is very beneficial for diabetic patients.

The soup of Hongyun Dangtou contains tomatoes, enoki mushrooms, fish and broccoli, which makes the whole nutrition richer. Therefore, after eating this meal, diabetic patients will have sufficient nutrition, low glycemic index and their condition can be well controlled.

What is the importance of pancreatic islet function in controlling blood sugar? The main reason why we have high blood sugar in diabetes is that our insulin secretion is impaired, and insulin is the only glucose-lowering hormone in our body, so the pancreas is the most important stabilizer for controlling blood sugar. If your pancreatic islet function is not normal, you have no material basis for controlling blood sugar.

Why does pancreatic islet function become impaired?

There is a hormone in our intestines that maintains normal pancreatic function. It has a strong regulatory ability. However, due to various factors such as genetics and unhealthy diet, our diabetics have damaged the secretion of incretin, so the incretin is insufficient, which often leads to pancreatic dysfunction. Without incretin, pancreatic function will decline. So if we supplement incretin, the pancreatic function can be maintained normally.

How to supplement incretin?

It is recommended to supplement with dipeptidyl peptidase inhibitors, also known as DPP-4 inhibitors. DPP-4 inhibitors inhibit dipeptidyl peptidase 4, because dipeptidyl peptidase 4 is mainly an enzyme that breaks down incretin in the human body. The activity of this enzyme in patients with type 2 diabetes is higher than that of ordinary people, so it breaks down a large amount of our incretin.

Therefore, we need to inhibit the enzyme so that the incretin produced continuously can be maintained at a high level. DPP-4 inhibitors can increase the level of our incretin to 2 to 3 times the normal value. In this way, our pancreatic islets will function normally after being protected by incretin. Therefore, the use of DPP-4 inhibitors in clinical practice has the effect of appropriately supplementing incretin.

What are the advantages of DPP-4 inhibitors? First, DPP-4 inhibitors only need to be taken once a day. Second, they control blood sugar in a balanced way, only lowering hyperglycemia without hypoglycemia. Third, DPP-4 inhibitors are widely welcomed by patients because they are comfortable to use and do not cause gastrointestinal discomfort.

DPP-4 inhibitors can protect our pancreatic islets and keep them stable for a long time, so that you can control your blood sugar level in a long-term manner without any drug interactions or adverse reactions, and the safety is also very good.

Therefore, this drug is currently relatively strong in terms of effectiveness, safety, and long-term blood sugar control. We call it a hypoglycemic drug with a relatively high comprehensive index. In China's 2021 guidelines for the prevention and treatment of elderly diabetes, DPP-4 inhibitors are recommended as an important drug of choice.

Drugs can only work better under dietary control. So glutinous rice dishes can help us diabetic patients spend a peaceful Spring Festival safely.

Expert: Professor Zou Dajin, Chief Physician of the Endocrinology Department of Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital