Local honey has been known to help with allergies, but there’s new evidence that locally produced foods may help decrease your diabetes risk, abdominal fat and blood pressure.
Why buying locally may help
A team of researchers in Italy wanted to dig into the benefits of eating locally produced food. Specifically, they wanted to know if fewer additives—which are often added to foods to make them more “palatable, durable and transportable over long distances”—would positively affect diabetes, blood pressure and abdominal fat.
The team focused on six foods that are typically produced outside the study’s region: cheese, chocolate, pasta, sausage, biscuits and pastries. They didn’t ask study participants to stop eating those foods; only to start buying them from local producers instead.
Designing the study
For 6 months, the researchers evaluated 159 healthy participants with questionnaires and measurements of blood glucose and levels of insulin, potassium, sodium, creatine and C-peptide. They also measured things like anxiety, depression, abdominal fat and overall fat and calculated HOMA scores to indicate insulin resistance and beta-cell function.
The participants were randomly placed into Group A (whose members only purchased the six items from local producers) or Group B (whose members were told to only purchase these six items at grocery stores). Both groups were instructed to keep a food diary and follow the Mediterranean diet. An expert was brought in to ensure that the locally produced foods did not contain additives.
The results of the study
Despite both groups eating a similar number of foods and calories for the 6 months, the scientists discovered that the two groups had a number of health differences at the end of the study, including:
- Group A had better HOMA scores.
- Group A had lower fasting glucose levels.
- Group A had lower levels of visceral fat.
- Group A had reduced systolic blood pressure.
- Group A had improved depression scores.
More research needs to be done, but the findings are certainly interesting.
