Patricia ThompsonAnswering reader's letter
Polycystic ovarian
syndrome
I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian sydrome) which is really a hormone imbalance problem. It causes me to get bloated in the stomach among other symptoms. There are tablets that can be taken for the symptoms but I am trying to get pregnant so I cant take these now.
Response: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a metabolic disease that requires medical nutrition therapy for the cause and not merely nutritional manipulations to treat symptoms. Understandably, bloating is uncomfortable, but you should not lose sight of the larger picture. Virtually all metabolic problems including PCOS have insulin resistance as the primary ingredient. It is also the preliminary common characteristic of Type II diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease among others.
Certain types of anti-diabetic tablets have produced promising results. Self treatment should not be practised but your doctor should be consulted especially for regular monitoring. A medical referral to a registered dietician or nutritionist would be required and a combination of dietary control and exercise is definitely indicated.
Dietary objectives should be to lose excess fat weight or maintain normal weight. Your gastric symptoms will be relieved by having smaller, regular meals and snacks and this will also help control cravings and overeating. Reduced intake of salt will help alleviate bloating and a wide variety of foods will ensure that all the nutrients are provided. Dietary counselling is recommended to meet individual needs.
WEAPON AGAINST INSULIN RESISTANCE
Insulin is a hormone secreted by the body in response to the carbohydrate, glucose entering the blood, to facilitate its uptake into the body cells. If the body cells resist the action of insulin, there is said to be insulin resistance. The carbohydrate comes largely from foods and is balanced with foods supplying protein and healthy fat.
High protein, high-fat diets that restrict carbohydrate unnecessarily are no longer recommended since as you said, this increases the risk of heart and kidney problems. We have instead another weapon called the glycemic index.
The glycemic index (GI) describes the potential of carbohydrate containing foods to raise the level of glucose sugar in the blood. A food that releases sugar very rapidly into the blood is said to be of high GI. Foods with carbohydrate that are more slowly released are called low GI foods. Research has shown that diets containing too high a ratio of high to low GI foods will increase the risk of type II
diabetes.
In contrast, if more low GI foods are eaten, even without any change in the total amount of carbohydrate, sensitivity to insulin, blood glucose control and body fat control are improved.
GLYCEMIC INDEX OF FOODS
Plant foods especially the staples, fruits and vegetables contribute the most carbohydrate to the diet. Instead of excluding these foods from the diet, we can try to shift the balance of high GI foods to include more low GI foods. Some approximate GI
values for commonly eaten
foods can be compared as
shown below.
Always remember, proper
food combining provides the basis of balanced meals so that white rice made into rice and peas would have the appropriately lowered GI.
Patricia Thompson M.Sc., Registered Nutritionist, Nutrition and Diet Services.
