A fish-oriented diet might be very helpful for you if you are suffering from diabetes. To be clearer, eating fish twice a week will most likely help you decrease the risk of developing kidney disease, one of the most serious complications of the disease.

A team of British researchers have come to this conclusion after studying the diets of more than 22,000 middle-aged and older people. 517 of them had diabetes, primarily type 2 disease.
The conclusion was quite simple to reach: the people who said they used to eat fish at least twice a week were less likely to have protein in the urine (macroalbuminuria) which is the first sign of kidney disease. Medical researchers concluded that eating fish lowers abnormal levels of protein in the urine. Unhealthy quantities of protein appear in the urine when the kidneys are hurt.

Macroalbuminuria "can herald worse kidney damage and increase the risk even for heart attacks," Dr. Amanda Adler from Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge said.

Eating fish has other benefits for people with diabetes. A fish-oriented diet increases glucose tolerance, decreases fats in the blood, and lowers blood pressure.

The study was published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation. The study was part of the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer. Ten countries collaborated to investigate the link between diet and cancer.

Diabetes affects an estimated 23.6 million U.S. residents.