Is Jaggery Helpful To Treat Diabetics

If you are a victim of diabetes, then you probably would have already known the fact that you shouldn’t consume anything sweet. But then, there is this rumor running between jaggery and diabetes which puts many in confusion. Can jaggery be eaten during diabetes? As some say, despite being sweet, can jaggery still cure diabetes?

This post answers all those questions. Give it a thorough read! Who knows, it might save your life one day!

What is Diabetes:

Diabetes mellitus, also known as sugar diabetes or rather diabetes in regular terms, is a metabolic disease. It occurs when the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin. It is also observed when the cells of the body don’t respond to the insulin hormone. Preventive measures involve ample exercise, a healthy diet, and a good body weight.

But if diagnosed with it, there are a lot more precautions to be taken. This is especially true when it comes to diet. This is where the question of jaggery comes into the picture.

Is Jaggery Good For Diabetics:

Jaggery is sweet, right? And sweet is a strict ‘NO’ when you have diabetes! So, can diabetic patient eat jaggery? Let’s find out!

Let’s look into the composition of jaggery and its characteristics to understand how it impacts diabetics.

Jaggery is cane sugar. It is a concentrated mixture of dates, cane juice, and palm sap. Its color varies from golden to brown, pale to dark. Sucrose makes up to 50 percent of its composition; invert sugars makeup around 20 percent more, and there’s a 20 percent of moisture, etc.

Though jaggery has a lot of health benefits, it is mostly not recommended for diabetics. This is because jaggery contains a high number of calories. Being such a sweetener, it increases blood sugar rapidly. The difference between jaggery and refined sugar is, in fact, just the color. And also, jaggery contains almost the same amount of sugar. As a result, there is the same effect on blood sugar.

An index to measure the amount of glucose released into the body by a specific food substance is known as the glycemic index. More the glucose, more the glycemic index. Jaggery also has a very high glycemic inde

In a recent study, it was observed that participants that consumed sugar and the participants that consumed jaggery had almost similar blood sugar levels. This proved that consuming jaggery has pretty much the same effects as consuming refined sugar.

There is also a small number of people who say that consuming jaggery is a little safer than consuming refined sugar. This is attributed to the amount of chemicals being used in the processing of sugar. There is no scientific evidence to back this up though.

So, is jaggery good for diabetics? We can say that jaggery is not a safe alternative for diabetics. It works almost like refined white sugar. The constituents of both are similar, and they have the same effect on blood sugar. Therefore, please consult your doctor before you make major changes to your diet concerning jaggery. Also, if you are a diabetic, make sure that you follow the pointers here.

Try and include high fiber food products in your diet.
Choose brown rice over white rice.
Corn can be replaced with peas, greens, etc.
Eat grains in as little-processed way as possible.
Eat healthy proteins.
Consume good fats.
Avoid potatoes.
Reduce sugary drinks, soda and more such aerated varieties.
Do not skip breakfast – consume three healthy meals a day.
Maintain the same number of calories for a reasonable period of time.

Diabetes is a serious problem. Do not play doctor and make sure you allow the experts to decide your diet!

How do you take care of your health? Do you prefer artificial sweeteners over natural ones? If you are diabetic, what are your tips to others to handle it in an efficient way? Shoot a comment and let us know!