A professor of medicine in the faculty of clinical science, Bayero University, Andrew Uloko, has urged persons with diabetes to stay away from fatty foods.

According to the expert, consuming fatty foods makes diabetes control more difficult.

The professor of medicine explained that cutting out refined sugar is not the only way of dealing with the chronic condition, noting that saturated fats in particular are also not healthy for people living with diabetes.

Speaking with UGAMATV in an interview Uloko said, “Fatty Food substances, particularly saturated fat, are also not very good for people with diabetes because they can cause problems.

“Problems with the inflow of blood to the arteries, problems for the kidney and even the heart in the form of stroke or clogging of blood within the arteries.

“They can also make diabetes control difficult. That is if one has diabetes and is taking a lot of fatty food.”

He advised people with diabetes to be careful of food with high content of saturated fat, “It is not advisable,” he said.

He also noted that people living with diabetes who have high sensitivity to gluten are likely to have complications if they eat large quantities of wheat.

He, however, noted that that is a rare occurrence in Nigeria as it is more common in the western world.

“The issue about wheat is that it is a cereal, a complex carbohydrate and has high fibre content and wheat has a kind of protein that is more than what is found in other cereals.

“That particular protein in wheat is called gluten. So, some people react to the gluten content in wheat. Some people are a little bit more sensitive to gluten though this is not very common in our population, as it is found mostly in whites.

“In the western world, gluten hypersensitivity is more pronounced and for that category of persons, if they eat high quantities of wheat, they are likely to have complications or their health will deteriorate.”

Uloko posited that wheat is healthy for people living with diabetes but must be taken in controlled portions

“Eating wheat in moderation is considered to be healthy because it has fibre and because it is a complex carbohydrate but in individuals, in those select few who have identified they have hypersensitivity to gluten, maybe they should not take wheat.

“We do not discourage people from eating wheat and our population does not have problems with wheat as compared with the western world where gluten hypersensitivity is the problem,” he said