Vegetarian Diet Can Help Combat Diabetes

As a dietitian, I appreciated the article on the role that a healthy vegetarian diet can play in preventing and treating Type 2 diabetes (“Diabetics can eat limited servings of pastas, starches,” Feb. 16). Healthy eating habits and lifestyle choices can help Americans stay slim and ward off this disease.

A 1999 study financed by the Diabetes Action and Research Education Foundation and conducted by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and Georgetown University showed that a low- fat, vegetarian diet significantly lowered blood-sugar levels and body weight. Other research, including the comprehensive China Health Study, shows that people on a low-fat, plant-based diet are slimmer and have much less risk of developing diabetes.

SUSAN LEVIN

Washington

Editor’s note: Susan Levin is the staff dietitian for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.