For people who have type 2 diabetes, following a low-glycemic diet designed to keep blood sugar from rising may help them keep the disease under control, according to a new study published in the latest Journal of the American Medical Association.

People with type 2 diabetes who ate a low-GI diet for 6 months had greater blood sugar control and fewer heart disease risks than those who followed a high-fiber diet. The main outcome measured was the change in A1C in the blood, which reflects glucose levels over the long term. A1C fell 0.50 percent on the low-GI diet compared with only 0.18 percent on the high-fiber diet, the researchers from the University of Toronto noted.

The low-glycemic-index diet was based on carbohydrates that had less impact on blood sugar levels, such as beans, pasta, nuts, and certain whole grains. Besides following one of the diets, the participants were encouraged to have three servings of fruits and five servings of vegetables per day, except tropically grown fruits like mangos, bananas, and pineapple, which tend to have higher glycemic index scores.

“A lot of the traditional foods like beans, pasta - these sorts of foods that were eaten perhaps by our grandparents - can usefully be brought back into the diet,” the researchers concluded.

A second study published in the Dec.17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that people who have type 2 diabetes when they are diagnosed with cancer face a greater risk of death compared to cancer patients without diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes typically affects individuals over the age of 40, but today the disease occurs at an increasingly younger age, especially in those who have a family history of diabetes.