Diabetics Who Skip Breakfast Have Elevated Blood Sugar Levels Throughout the Day

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterized by high blood sugar levels. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin to function properly, or the body's cells do not react to insulin. A new research has revealed that diabetics who skip breakfast may have elevated blood sugar levels throughout the day. The researchers said, "Fasting until noon triggers major blood sugar spikes and impairs the insulin responses of type-2 diabetics throughout the rest of the day." researcher Daniela Jakubowicz, a professor at the Tel Aviv University in Israel, said, "For type-2 diabetic individuals, the omission of breakfast is associated with a significant increase in all-day blood sugar spikes and of HbA1C, which represents average blood glucose levels over the preceding three months."

For the study, researchers studied 22 type-2 diabetics who were 56.9 years old, with a mean body mass index of 28.2 kg/m2. Over the course of two days, the study participants consumed precisely the same number of calories and the same balanced meal for lunch and dinner. The only difference was that one day they ate breakfast and the second day they fasted until lunch time.

The researchers found that study participants experienced extraordinary glucose peaks of 268 mg/dl (milligram per deciliter) after lunch and 298 mg/dl after dinner on days they skipped breakfast versus only 192 mg/dl and 215 mg/dl after eating an identical lunch and dinner when they ate breakfast. Jakubowicz said, "This means that reducing the amount of starch and sugars in lunch and dinner will have no effect on reducing elevated glucose levels if diabetic individuals also skip breakfast."

The researchers suggested that pancreatic beta cells which produce insulin lose their 'memory' due to the prolonged period between one evening's dinner and the next day's lunch. They also explained that fasting until lunch increases the fatty acids in blood, which renders insulin ineffective in reducing blood glucose levels.

The findings appeared in the Diabetes Care.

Source-IANS