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GREETINGS everyone! Well, the medical file is bulging and I thought we’d take a look at two research developments that may prove that you not only ARE what you eat, but your health depends on eating certain things.

New data from researchers in England have shown that eating citrus fruits, especially oranges and grapefruit, may lower the risk of stroke, particularly in women. They discovered that women who ate a lot of citrus had a 19 percent lower risk of ischemic stroke than women who consumed the least amount.

The scientists used 14 years of data from the Nurse's Health Study. This massive study in Britain included 69,622 women who reported their food intake, including details on fruit and vegetable consumption every four years.

The compounds found in citrus fruits are called flavanones which were consumed primarily from oranges and orange juice (82 percent) and grapefruit and grapefruit juice (14 percent). But the researchers recommend that consumers increase their citrus fruit intake, rather than juice, because commercial fruit juices typically contain so much sugar.

Of course, too much sugar intake has been intimately associated with a very common malady on Guam, type 2 diabetes. But new research by scientists at Harvard shows a troubling link between type 2 diabetes and Guam’s favorite food: white rice.

The authors from the Harvard School of Public Health looked at previous studies and evidence of the association between eating white rice and the risk of type 2 diabetes. The study sought to determine whether this risk is dependent on the amount of rice consumed and if the association is stronger for the Asian population, who tend to eat more white rice than the Western world.

The authors analyzed the results of four studies: two in Asian countries (China and Japan) and two in Western countries (USA and Australia). All the participants were diabetes-free when the studies began.

White rice is pure starch and has a high glycemic index (GI) which means the body tends to convert it to sugar. Diets that have a high GI are associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The average amount of rice eaten varies widely between Western and Asian countries, with the Chinese population eating an average of four portions a day while those in the Western world eat less than five portions a week.

The results from these studies show that the more white rice you eat, the higher your risk of type 2 diabetes: The authors estimate that the risk of type 2 diabetes is increased by 10 percent with each increased serving of white rice. This applies to both Asian and Western cultures, although Asian countries are at a higher risk because they eat more white rice. The authors recommend eating whole grains instead of refined carbohydrates such as white rice, which they hope will help slow down the global diabetes epidemic.

More citrus, less rice. It couldn’t hurt!