Benefits of eating a high-energy breakfast for diabetics

One of the biggest problems every diabetic faces is the inability to control blood sugar. But, this problem can be solved with the help of a high-energy breakfast and modest dinner, says study.

Over 382 million people across the world suffer from diabetes i.e. predominantly type-2 diabetes. And for these people, spikes in glucose post meals can be threatening to life as it can lead to cardiovascular health problems. A new study by Tel Aviv University has come up with a new proposal that aims to suppress deadly glucose throughout the day. According to this proposal, a diabetic should eat a high-calorie breakfast and a modest dinner.

The study reiterates that a combined consumption of a high-energy breakfast and a low-energy dinner reduces the overall daily hyperglycaemia in type-2 diabetics. The researchers found that eating more calories during breakfast i.e. when the level of glucose response to food was the lowest and consuming fewer calories at dinner, there was a reduction in glucose peaks after meals and the level of glucose throughout the day.

The new study was conducted on eight men and 10 women aged 30-70, who had type-2 diabetes. After the patients were randomized and assigned either a “B diet” or a “D diet”. The B diet comprised 2, 946 kilojoule breakfast, 2,523 kj lunch and 858 kj dinner. The D diet comprised 858 kj breakfast, 2,523 kj lunch and 2,946 kj dinner.

When the results were analysed, post meal glucose elevations had reduced by 20 percent and the level of insulin, GLP-1 and C-peptide had increased by 20 percent in patients who had the B diet.

Even though both the diet contained the same number of calories, blood sugar levels were seen to have risen 23 percent less post lunch preceded by a large breakfast.

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