“This revolutionary product needs to be included in familiar foods, including porridge, rotis, idlis, pancakes, even bakery products.”…reports Asian Lite News.
Previous studies have provided evidence of jackfruit flour having anti-diabetic properties, but the results were unclear until a randomised control trial was performed on a group of 40 people living with diabetes.
Of them, 20 in the intervention group received 30g of green jackfruit flour daily, replacing an equal volume of wheat flour or rice flour in their meals. The remaining 20 patients in the placebo group received equal volumes of rice flour or wheat flour.
At the end of 12 weeks, the patients in the intervention group showed a statistically significant reduction in their blood glucose levels – fasting, post-prandial and mean – compared to the placebo group, clearly demonstrating a practical use for green jackfruit flour in medical nutrition therapy for people living with diabetes.
Not only in studies, but experts have seen positive health impacts in real-life cases as well. Dr Vinod Abichandani, Diabetes & Endocrine Physician at the Bodyline Multispeciality Hospital, Ahmedabad, mentions the case of a patient who had been on medication for about three months, but there was only a marginal improvement, despite the patient following the medicine routine and making lifestyle changes.
So, instead of increasing the medicine dosage, Dr Vinod asked his patient to replace a portion of the regular wheat flour in his diet with 15g of green jackfruit flour twice a day. The results were visible from Day 11 and within a matter of 45 days, his blood glucose levels showed remarkable improvement.
Along with this, the patient also lost two kilos and his LDL, HDL and triglyceride levels also showed favourable results. Dr Vinod commented: “A 3,000-year-old nutritional gem from India has been rediscovered and 15 patients in my clinic and every member of my family and my staff are now taking 30g green jackfruit flour per day and I see benefits in each instance.”
Elaborating on the mechanisms through which jackfruit flour is able to achieve such exceptional results, Dr Ishi Khosla, Clinical Nutritionist, Columnist, Author, Entrepreneur and Researcher, said, “Today, we are not managing diabetes in a conventional way based on only fats and carbohydrates. Instead, we are treating diabetes as an inflammatory disease. In my clinical practice, I have seen a reversal of early diabetes in patients who follow an anti-inflammatory diet.”
Dr Khosla added: “Nature’s gift to people living with diabetes, jackfruit flour is not only gluten-free but also anti-inflammatory. Loaded with phytonutrients, it also contains an impressive amount of fibre. The soluble fibre and resistant starch content also serve as prebiotics, which is essential for gut health.”
Mentioning the other likely benefits of jackfruit flour, Dr Khosla said: “This is only a part of the success and I believe we can manage and prevent virtually every chronic disease, from digestive disorders to cardiovascular diseases, for when food favourably impacts the gut, it has a cascading effect on the other mechanisms of the body.”
She concluded: “This revolutionary product needs to be included in familiar foods, including porridge, rotis, idlis, pancakes, even bakery products.”
Another important aspect highlighted by Ms Sheryl Salis, Registered Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Educator, Author, Lecturer and Founder, Nurture Health Solutions, was the satiety factor — that is, how early you feel full after eating.
Ms Salis said: “Just 30g of jackfruit flour replaces 50g of wheat/rice/millet flour, because of the low bulk density. We have seen in our patients that earlier they were eating three rotis, but now, after the replacement of other flours with jackfruit flour, they’re able to eat only two because satiety is achieved much faster. They also feel happy and motivated because incorporating just one change in their meals has brought about a major change in their blood glucose levels.”
She added: “The product is so versatile that it can be added to almost any recipe because it doesn’t alter the taste. Even if you add just one tablespoon of the flour to a bowl of curd and have it before meals, it is going to have a positive impact on your satiety as well as in controlling post-meal blood sugar levels.”
Ms Salis concluded on a happy note. She said: “Green jackfruit flour has made a world of difference to my practice. My patients, especially parents of children with diabetes, are very happy.”
Experts using green jackfruit flour in their households are unanimous that in the given dosage of one tablespoon per meal, green jackfruit flour can have positive health benefits for all people, whether or not they are living with diabetes. Of course, people living with diabetes are advised to use jackfruit flour only as medical nutrition therapy and not as a replacement for medicines.
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