Diabetes: eat plenty of food for breakfast
Luise Heine has been an editor at since 2012. The qualified biologist studied in Regensburg and Brisbane (Australia) and gained experience as a journalist in television, in the Ratgeber-Verlag and in a print magazine. In addition to her work at , she also writes for children, for example for the Stuttgarter Kinderzeitung, and has her own breakfast blog, “Kuchen zum Frühstück”.
More posts by Luise Heine All content is checked by medical journalists.Munichin the morning like an emperor, at noon like a king, in the evening like a beggar - this nutritional advice should be heeded especially by type 2 diabetics. In this way, they alleviate blood sugar spikes after meals and their possible consequential damage.
Too much sugar in the blood is bad for the body. Among other things, it gnaws at the vessels, which can have fatal consequences. This is precisely why diabetes therapy aims to avoid blood sugar spikes. Still, they happen, especially right after meals. However, everyone can do something themselves to keep the peaks low, found Professor Daniela Jakubowicz from Tel Aviv University and her team. Obviously, the decisive factor is when and how much someone eats.
Calorie counting for science
At least that is what the experiments that the researchers carried out with the help of 18 diabetics between the ages of 30 and 70 years suggest. For a week it was precisely determined how many calories the participants should eat. For one part of the group, most of the energy was eaten at breakfast (2946 kilojoules), lunch was moderate (2535 kilojoules) and dinner was rather light (858 kilojoules). For the other half of the test persons, the distribution of the nutritional values was exactly the other way around, that is, a light breakfast was followed by a hearty dinner. The experiment was repeated after two weeks, but the groups were now switched.
On the seventh day of this diet, the blood values were measured before meals and afterwards at regular intervals.
One fifth less sugar in the blood
When evaluating the blood values, it became clear that it makes a big difference when the majority of the daily calorie requirement is consumed. Those who ate a particularly high-energy breakfast reduced their blood sugar spikes after meals by 20 percent compared to the other group. At the same time, they had insulin levels increased by 20 percent, as well as so-called C-peptides and GLP-1 in the blood - both signs that the sugar utilization was boosted. Especially after lunch, the blood sugar rose 23 percent less if the diabetic had a good breakfast.
Reduce the risk to vessels
It is not enough to tell patients with type 2 diabetes what and what not to eat, Jakubowicz said. “It is more important that you eat the right thing at the right time.” This may also prevent cardiovascular complications in the long term. In the future, the researchers want to investigate how it will affect the development of diabetes in the long term if one follows their dietary recommendations.
Around six million people in Germany suffer from diabetes. About 90 percent of them have type 2 diabetes. In addition to a genetic component, the risk factors include, in particular, poor diet, obesity and lack of exercise. (lh)
Source: Jakubowicz D. et al. High-energy breakfast with low-energy dinner decreases overall daily hyperglycaemia in type 2 diabetic patients: a randomized clinical trial. Diabetologia, 2015; DOI: 10.1007 / s00125-015-3524-9
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