Skipping Breakfast a Bad Idea for People with Type 2 Diabetes
Skipping Breakfast a Bad Idea for People with Type 2 Diabetes
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, Aug. 7, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Running out the door without eating breakfast isn't a good idea for anyone, but new research suggests that for people with type 2 diabetes, skipping the morning meal may wreak havoc on blood sugar levels for the rest of the day.
In a small clinical trial, researchers found that when people with diabetes skipped breakfast, their lunchtime blood sugar levels were 37 percent higher than on a day they ate breakfast. And blood sugar levels were still higher at dinnertime on the day the study volunteers skipped breakfast -- 27 percent higher, the study said.
"This is of high relevance since skipping breakfast has progressively increased over the past decades in Western society," said the study's lead author, Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz, a professor of medicine at Tel Aviv University in Israel.
What's more, she said, high blood sugar levels after meals are strongly associated with a rapid decline in beta-cell function. Beta cells are the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, a hormone that's necessary for the body to use the carbohydrates in food as fuel.
High blood sugar peaks are also linked to earlier development of heart disease complications, Jakubowicz added.
Results of the study were published recently in Diabetes Care.
Jakubowicz and her team showed earlier that eating a big breakfast and a light dinner may be beneficial. In a study published in February in Diabetologia, the researchers found that people with type 2 diabetes who ate a big breakfast and a light dinner had blood sugar levels that were 20 percent lower than people who had a small breakfast and big dinner.
In the current study, the researchers recruited 22 people with type 2 diabetes. Their average age was 57 years old. Their body mass index (BMI) was just over 28. BMI is rough estimate of how much body fat a person has, and a BMI of 28 means a person is overweight, but not obese.
Over two days, all of the participants ate the same meal at every meal -- milk, tuna, bread and a chocolate breakfast bar, Jakubowicz said. On one day, they ate three meals -- breakfast, lunch and dinner. On the second day, they skipped breakfast, but had lunch and dinner.
HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, Aug. 7, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Running out the door without eating breakfast isn't a good idea for anyone, but new research suggests that for people with type 2 diabetes, skipping the morning meal may wreak havoc on blood sugar levels for the rest of the day.
In a small clinical trial, researchers found that when people with diabetes skipped breakfast, their lunchtime blood sugar levels were 37 percent higher than on a day they ate breakfast. And blood sugar levels were still higher at dinnertime on the day the study volunteers skipped breakfast -- 27 percent higher, the study said.
"This is of high relevance since skipping breakfast has progressively increased over the past decades in Western society," said the study's lead author, Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz, a professor of medicine at Tel Aviv University in Israel.
What's more, she said, high blood sugar levels after meals are strongly associated with a rapid decline in beta-cell function. Beta cells are the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, a hormone that's necessary for the body to use the carbohydrates in food as fuel.
High blood sugar peaks are also linked to earlier development of heart disease complications, Jakubowicz added.
Results of the study were published recently in Diabetes Care.
Jakubowicz and her team showed earlier that eating a big breakfast and a light dinner may be beneficial. In a study published in February in Diabetologia, the researchers found that people with type 2 diabetes who ate a big breakfast and a light dinner had blood sugar levels that were 20 percent lower than people who had a small breakfast and big dinner.
In the current study, the researchers recruited 22 people with type 2 diabetes. Their average age was 57 years old. Their body mass index (BMI) was just over 28. BMI is rough estimate of how much body fat a person has, and a BMI of 28 means a person is overweight, but not obese.
Over two days, all of the participants ate the same meal at every meal -- milk, tuna, bread and a chocolate breakfast bar, Jakubowicz said. On one day, they ate three meals -- breakfast, lunch and dinner. On the second day, they skipped breakfast, but had lunch and dinner.
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