Breakfast is key for diabetics

By consuming a high energy breakfast and a low energy evening meal, type 2 diabetes sufferers had better blood sugar control, according to the study published in Diabetologia –​ the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. ​

Eight men and 10 women aged between 30 and 70 were split into two groups and given two different diets – a D diet and a B diet – for one week.

Same total energy​

Those on the B diet consumed a 2,946 kilojoule (kj) breakfast, 2,523kj lunch and a 858kj dinner, while subjects on the D diet consumed the same total energy, but swapped their breakfast energy input for their dinner energy input.

Post-meal glucose levels were 20% lower and insulin, c-peptide and glucagon-like peptide 1 levels were 20% higher in participants on the B diet, the study showed.

Lunch on the B diet resulted in lower blood glucose, despite both diets containing the same energy input.

“Observations suggest that a change in meal timing influences the overall daily rhythm of post-meal insulin and incretin ​[metabolic hormones that stimulate a decrease in blood glucose levels] and results in a substantial reduction in the daily post-meal glucose levels,” ​Professor Oren Froy of the Hebrew university of Jerusalem and a report author said.

Crucial factor​

A person’s meal timing could be a crucial factor in the improvement of glucose balance and prevent complications in type 2 diabetes, he added.

It was also possible that the findings could be used to prevent cardiovascular and other type 2 diabetes-related complications, Professor Daniela Jakubowicz from the Wolfson Medical Centre at Tel Aviv University, said.

More than 700 Britons are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes​ – which can be obesity-related – each day, according to a study by Diabetes UK and Tesco released last year.

At the time, Barbara Young, ceo of Diabetes UK, said: “It is deeply worrying that more than 700 people a day are being diagnosed with diabetes and this clearly shows the frightening scale of what is fast becoming a national health emergency.” ​