- For people with type 2 diabetes, difficulty chewing due to lost or non-functional teeth is associated with higher levels of blood glucose, according to a new study.
- One possible reason is that an inability to chew properly is linked to obesity.
- People who have trouble chewing may also gravitate to lower-quality foods that are easy to chew.
- The study’s co-author suggests that dental work that restores proper chewing may be a good way to return blood glucose to healthier levels in such people.
A new study explores for the first time an association between difficulty chewing and blood glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes.
People with type 2 diabetes who can chew their food normally have lower blood glucose levels than those whose chewing is impaired due to lost or broken, damaged teeth.
The study analyzed data from 94 people with type 2 diabetes who were patients at a clinic in Istanbul, Turkey. Individuals were assigned to one of two groups.
The first group consisted of people who could chew properly. They had acceptable “occlusal function,” meaning that they had enough teeth to chew properly and that their upper and lower teeth successfully met during chewing.
In the second group were people who could not chew well because they were missing too many teeth to do so.
To assess the participants’ average blood sugar levels, the researchers measured their levels of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). HbA1c reflects a person’s average blood glucose over the past 2–3 months.
The study found that the second group’s HbA1c levels were 2% higher than those who could chew effectively.
The HbA1c level for those who had no chewing issues was 7.48. The same figure was 9.42 for those with difficulties chewing.
The study is published in
In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, and too much glucose remains in the bloodstream, potentially leading to various complications.
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