"If you eat a high carb diet without drinking alcohol, your risk of developing diabetes is increased by 30 percent. 
 
 
 
 However, if you eat a high carb diet, but (drink) a moderate amount of alcohol, the increased risk is reduced." 
 
 "Our findings suggest that a higher alcohol intake (≥15 g/d) attenuates the positive association between GL and T2D incidence." 
 
 Refined and unrefined grains 
 
 Females in middle age who drink alcohol moderately and consume large amounts of refined carbohydrates have a 30% lower chance of developing diabetes type 2, compared to women with similar dietary habits who don't drink, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health wrote in the. Examples of refined carbohydrate foods include sugary drinks, white bread, some pastas, and (polished) white rice.The authors explained, as background information to their report, that very little prior research has focused on whether there might be an association between glycemic index load, glycemic index, alcohol consumption and diabetes type 2 risk.Dr. Frank Hu and team set out to determine what impact alcohol intake (or lack of it) might have on diabetes risk in middle aged women whose refined carbohydrate (carb) intake was high. They tracked 81,827 women for 26 years. The women had participated in the Nurses' Health Study and were all free of diabetes type 2 when the study began.Their cumulative averages of glycemic index, glycemic load, total carb intake and total alcohol intake were calculated every two to four years using questionnaires.During the follow-up period 6,950 participants developed diabetes type 2.They found that the women with a high refined-carb intake who consumed moderate amounts of alcohol had a 30% lower chance of developing diabetes type 2 compared to women whose refined-carb intake was also high but consumed no alcohol.In an interview withnews agency, Dr. Hu said:The authors concluded in an Abstract in the journal:The moderate drinkers in this study consumed an average of 0.8 once (24 grams) of alcohol each day, the equivalent of approximately two drinks each week. A very small percentage were classed as heavy drinkers - consuming at least two ounces of alcohol each day - they did not have a lower diabetes type 2 risk.The authors stressed that their study should not encourage people to start drinking if they do not do so now. Rather, they encourage a diet low in refined carbs and high in whole grains. If you are a drinker, they added, you should do so with moderation.Refined grains have been milled so that their outer bran coating has gone, leaving just the endosperm. Examples include white rice, white pasta and white bread. When referring to rice, the termis often used with the meaning 'milled'.In whole grain products, the germ and endosperm are still there. Bran is a good source of fiber, while the germ has protein, minerals and vitamins - the endosperm has carbohydrates (mainly in the form of starch).Whole grains, also known as unrefined grains (unrefined carbs) are rich in antioxidants and phytochemicals - these help protect us against diabetes, some cancers and coronary heart disease . Some studies have demonstrated that individuals who consume at least three portions of whole grains each day have a lower risk of developing heart disease compared to people who don't. ||||| A woman attends the Vivanda Taste the Med food festival as glasses of red and white wine are placed on a display table at Ta' Qali, outside Valletta November 6, 2011. 
 
 By Linda Thrasybule NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Middle aged women who eat a lot of refined carbs might offset their risk of type 2 diabetes by drinking a moderate amount of alcohol, a new study suggests. 
 
 Following more than 80,000 women over 26 years, researchers found that those who ate a diet high in refined carbohydrates, such as white bread, potatoes and sugary drinks, had a 30 percent lower risk of developing diabetes than women with similar eating habits who didn't drink alcohol. 
 
 Previous research has linked moderate drinking with lower diabetes risk, but the new study tried to get at why that might be by looking specifically at women with high-glycemic diets -- that is, diets high in the refined carbs that are prone to raise blood sugar. 
 
 "If you eat a high carb diet without drinking alcohol, your risk of developing diabetes is increased by 30 percent," said senior author Dr. Frank Hu, who studies nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts. 
 
 "However, if you eat a high carb diet, but (drink) a moderate amount of alcohol, the increased risk is reduced," he told Reuters Health. Nearly half of the estimated 26 million American adults with diabetes are women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
 
 Diabetes can lead to additional serious health issues, such as heart disease and stroke, nerve damage and amputations. 
 
 The new study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, doesn't prove alcohol protects against diabetes. But Hu and his colleagues speculate that alcohol might affect the body's release of insulin and other substances after a meal, blunting the blood-sugar spikes that promote diabetes. 
 
 Hu's team analyzed data on 82,000 women participating in the long-term Nurses' Health Study. After 26 years of follow-up, 6,950 women, or about nine percent, who were diabetes free at the outset had developed the condition. 
 
 The researchers also examined participants' diets, including alcohol, based on surveys taken every four years. 
 
 Overall, the women who ate the most refined carbs, such as breakfast cereals, breads, mashed potatoes, colas and orange juice, and whose diets included a lot of meat, were at highest risk of developing diabetes. 
 
 But within that group, moderate drinkers -- those whose average alcohol intake was more than 15 grams (about half an ounce) a day -- had a 30 percent lower risk than women who didn't drink at all. 
 
 Typically, the moderate drinkers imbibed 24 grams (0.8 ounce) of alcohol a day, which translates to about two drinks per week. 
 
 Only a small fraction of the subjects were heavy drinkers (about two ounces per day or more), but heavy drinking was not linked with lowered diabetes risk. 
 
 Jill Kanaley, who studies type 2 diabetes at the University of Missouri in Columbia and was not part of the study, was surprised by the findings. 
 
 "I've never really noticed in the literature that drinking a few glasses of alcohol could have an impact on the relationship between how much carbs you eat and diabetes risk," Kanaley said. 
 
 But she pointed out that "there are many factors the study didn't look at, such as when alcohol was consumed, if it was consumed with the meal, or the different types of alcohol used." 
 
 Though Hu isn't encouraging people to start drinking alcohol as a means of diabetes prevention, he does think the study reveals an interesting interaction between alcohol and carbs. 
 
 "We still advocate a diet with reduced refined carbs," he said. "And for people who drink, they should do so moderately." 
 
 SOURCE: bit.ly/u4q6iN American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, online November 2, 2011.
– Good news for you ladies who like a little bit of wine and a lot of carbs: A new study shows that middle-aged women who drink a moderate amount of alcohol but eat a large amount of refined carbohydrates are 30% less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than women who eat similarly, but don’t drink. Refined carbs, of course, include such maligned foods as white bread and sugary drinks, Reuters notes. Researchers tracked 81,827 women, all of whom were initially diabetes-free, for 26 years. Of those, 6,950 developed the disease, but moderate alcohol intake—defined as an average of about two drinks per week—appeared to help fend it off. As with all such studies, heavy drinkers were not found to have the same lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, and researchers do not recommend people start drinking simply to lower their risk, Medical News Today notes.