Diabetes nuts are supposed to lower risk

Diabetes: Olive oil and nuts allegedly lower the risk by 30 percent

03/02/2014

Worldwide, about 285 million people have diabetes, and the trend is rising. For some scientists, diabetes is the epidemic of the 21st century. Two types of diabetes, Type I and Type II are distinguished by the medical profession. Type I is about 5 percent of diabetics. In this form, the pancreas does not produce enough or no insulin. On the other hand, in type II too much insulin is secreted and the body is unable to absorb the hormone. This leads to excessive blood sugar levels. Those affected often feel dull and beaten, have a strong thirst and suffer from cravings. Often the vision is impaired and the susceptibility to infection is sometimes increased.

According to a recent Spanish study, the danger can be miraculously reduced by 30 percent with a Mediterranean diet. Physicians had formed three groups of patients in a study of 3541 senior Spaniards who showed an increased risk of heart disease and set up a different diet plan for each one.

One group received a Mediterranean diet. In addition, they received a liter of extra virgin olive oil per week for extra food. The other ate 210 grams of nuts a week, and the third dieted differently than she usually did. After four years, the three groups were re-examined and the researchers found that 8.8 percent of the third group's participants had diabetes in the meantime, while the nut-eater group only had 7.4 percent. For those who had olive oil on the menu, it was as low as 6.9 percent. However, the Spaniards published a reduction of 30 percent, which at first sight looks like a misrepresentation of the results.

But how come the scientists to this value, asked the Berlin psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer, the statistician Walter Krämer and Thomas Brauer of the Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung. They took a closer look at the statistics and the evaluation of the Spaniards. Background is that the trio since 2012 regularly the „Unstatistic of the month“ released. Their research found that the researchers presented their results in relative numbers. For the result of diabetes to fall, had fallen statistically seen from 8.8 percent to 6.9 percent - so only by 1.9 percent.

Relative numbers show results in a better light
"Here was a repeatedly successful communication trick applied," said the German trio. The Spaniards simply divided the 1.9 per cent, by 8.8 per cent and came to a result of 21.3 per cent. If one then adjusts the data by age and sex and then takes the mean of the results of olive oil and nut food, the result is 30 percent.

"Relative risks are big numbers and impressive, while absolute ones are small and unremarkable," argues Gigerenzer. But the information is correct and there is no reason to reprimand the Spaniards for a false representation "It's about how this information is communicated," said Gigerenzer. "The figure does not mean that of every 100 people who eat Mediterranean food, 30 less suffer from diabetes." Studies have shown that stating a relative risk reduction would lead many people astray because they would like to be confused with absolute values. "Even for doctors, this difference is not always clear, a reduction of only 1.9 percent, would certainly not caused a stir For Gigerenzer the original article evokes the appearance that nuts are as good as working like olive oil - whether that may be related that the authors of the study have received not only the nuts but also a financial contribution from the nut industry, which everyone has to decide for themselves, but it looks very much like it.

Picture: Tim Reckmann