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Cucumbers in diabetes mellitus - a universal product
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
Everyone knows that all types of vegetables are good for health, but cucumbers deserve special attention for diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
It is recommended that if you are overweight, you should have a “cucumber” fasting day once a week, although treating diabetes with cucumbers cannot yet be taken seriously despite all the unconditional dietary benefits of this vegetable plant.
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Benefits
Let's start with the benefits. But first, literally in one line, it is worth recalling that in type 1 diabetes, insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas are selectively destroyed, and the peculiarity of type 2 diabetes (in 90% of cases of which patients are severely obese) is that high glucose levels are associated with insulin resistance and a relative impairment of its secretion.
The daily caloric intake of diabetics should not exceed 2 thousand kcal, so when eating fresh cucumbers with diabetes, it is much easier to follow this recommendation, since cucumbers are 96% water, and every 100 g provide only 16 kcal. This means that they can be eaten in large quantities without the risk of a sharp increase in calorie intake.
In these same 100 g of cucumbers, the content of carbohydrates involved in hyperglycemia does not exceed 3.6-3.8 g, and glucose and fructose account for no more than 2-2.5%.
And if for some doubters this data did not answer the question of whether it is possible to eat cucumbers with diabetes type 1, 2, it remains to give one more argument, indicating the glycemic index of cucumbers - 15, which is 2.3 lower than that of apples, and half as much as that of tomatoes, which also belong to products with a low glycemic index.
In fact, cucumbers (Cucumis sativus of the Cucurbitaceae family – pumpkin) have other advantages, for example, they contain macro- and microelements necessary for the body: sodium (up to 7 mg per 100 g), magnesium (10-14 mg), calcium (18-23 mg), phosphorus (38-42 mg), potassium (140-150 mg), iron (0.3-0.5 mg), cobalt (1 mg), manganese (180 mcg), copper (100 mcg), chromium (6 mcg), molybdenum (1 mg), zinc (up to 0.25 mg).
Cucumbers also contain vitamins; according to World's Healthiest Foods, 100 grams of fresh vegetables contain:
- 0.02-0.06 mg beta-carotene (provitamin A);
- 2.8 mg ascorbic acid (L-dehydroascorbate – vitamin C);
- 0.1 mg tocopherol (vitamin E);
- 7 mcg folic acid (B9);
- 0.07 mg pyridoxine (B6);
- 0.9 mg biotin (B7);
- 0.098 mg nicotinamide or niacin (B3 or PP);
- about 0.3 mg pantothenic acid (B5);
- 0.033 mg riboflavin (B2);
- 0.027 mg thiamine (B1);
- up to 17 mcg of phylloquinones (vitamin K1 and K2).
Vitamin C in diabetes not only works as an antioxidant, but also reduces the risk of atherosclerotic plaque formation and vascular damage, and helps in wound healing.
It turned out that: nicotinamide protects pancreatic beta cells from autoimmune destruction and can inhibit the development of nephropathy, and phylloquinones presumably have a positive effect on the synthesis of the peptide hormone (GLP-1) - glucagon-like peptide-1, which is a physiological regulator of appetite and is involved in the metabolism of glucose from food.
Experts associate zinc with the state of the immune system and protein synthesis, as well as insulin activity, and chromium with an adequate response of cellular receptors of this hormone. And potassium and magnesium in cucumbers help to reduce blood pressure and ensure stable contraction of the heart muscle.
Being a source of fiber, fresh cucumbers help optimize the digestion process, remove toxins from the intestines and reduce the amount of bad cholesterol in diabetes. In addition, as noted by experts from the American Diabetes Association, the plant fibers of fresh vegetables slow down the absorption of carbohydrates and sugar.
Are cucumbers a cure for diabetes?
The biochemical composition of cucumber and its potential for diabetics are still being studied. Animal studies (published in 2011 in the Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences and in 2014 in the Journal of Medicinal Plant Research) showed that cucumber seed and pulp extracts could reduce blood glucose levels (in rats).
Studies have been conducted on cucumber peels fed to mice with induced type 2 diabetes. The experiment led to the hypothesis that the cucumber peel contains triterpene compounds called cucurbits (cucurbitans or cucurbitacins) that promote insulin release and regulate liver glucagon metabolism.
In China, these compounds are extracted from the cucumber's closest relative, the common pumpkin Cucurbita ficifolia. As reported in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, the use of this extract in laboratory rats with diabetes had a hypoglycemic effect, and a regenerating effect on damaged beta cells of the pancreas.
Controlling diabetes can be difficult, and many natural remedies can be helpful for people with this endocrine disorder. Of course, no one has yet tried cucumbers to treat diabetes, and cucumbers are not a cure for diabetes. But the results of studies on rodents show that further research is needed to determine how cucumbers may affect blood sugar levels in humans.
Contraindications
Cucumbers contain the most potassium, which explains their diuretic effect. Diabetic patients with kidney problems are prescribed a diet for diabetic nephropathy, and in case of electrolyte imbalance (developing due to chronic functional renal failure), nutritionists set a limit on salt consumption. Dietary contraindications for patients with osmotic diuresis and hyperkalemia in diabetes, as well as in cases of kidney and/or bladder inflammation include a ban on the consumption of potatoes, citrus fruits, apricots (and dried apricots), bananas and cucumbers, which contain a lot of potassium.
The choleretic effect of cucumbers means that they should be excluded from the diet in cases of cholecystitis and gallstone disease; this vegetable is contraindicated in cases of inflammatory processes in the stomach and duodenum (gastritis, ulcers), as well as in the large intestine (colitis, Crohn's disease).