Study shows a big breakfast better for glycaemic control than a low calorie version in adults with Type 2 diabetes.
At the recent European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting in Barcelona, Hadas Rabinovitz from Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Rehovot, Israel presented results of a recent study in adults with Type 2 diabetes. It demonstrated that those who eat a large low-calorie breakfast heavy in protein and fat have better glycaemic control than those who eat a small low-calorie breakfast. Rabinovitz and colleagues assessed glycaemic control and hormone profile in 59 adults with Type 2 diabetes who were randomly assigned to balanced hypocaloric diabetic diets with either a big breakfast (33 percent of total daily energy intake, with a higher percentage of protein and fat) or a small breakfast (12.5 percent of total daily energy intake).After the 13-week study, the researchers found that the big breakfast group had significantly greater reductions in haemoglobin A1c, systolic blood pressure, and hunger scores, and greater improvements in fasting glucose readings. Reductions in diabetes medication doses in a significantly greater proportion of patients were seen in the group that ate a big breakfast, while the small breakfast group had a significantly greater proportion of patients with dose increases. Rabinovitz and colleagues concluded that a simple dietary manipulation of big breakfast diet rich in protein and fat appears to have additional benefits compared with a conventional low-calorie diet in individuals with Type 2 diabetes.Source: Health Day.