According to World Health Organisation (WHO), around 350 million around the world were suffering from diabetes in 2014. In all likelihood, this number will witness an upward trend. The exact cause of diabetes is unknown but it’s more likely a mix of genetic makeup, lifestyle and family history. In this case, a good and well-balanced diet can go a long way.

So diabetic patients have some very important choices to make when it comes to planning their meals. They need to avoid foods that could spike their blood sugar, avoid fatty foods, include high-fiber food and all of this while keeping their hunger in check.

According to a new study that was published in the journal ‘Diabetologia’, eating breakfast that’s high on energy and dinner that’s low on energy can help improve blood sugar levels for those suffering from Type 2 diabetes. “High energy intake at breakfast is associated with significant reduction in overall post-meal glucose levels in diabetic patients over the entire day,” said Professor Daniela Jakubowicz from Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Findings suggest that planning your diet in this fashion could help optimize metabolic control and prevent any kind of complications that come with type 2 diabetes. The study was conducted with 18 participants – 8 men and 10 women, all of whom were suffering from type 2 diabetes for less than 10 years. They were in the 30 to 70 years age bracket.

They compared the results of high energy breakfast with low energy dinner (the B diet) with a low energy breakfast and high energy dinner diet (the D diet). Despite the diets containing the same total energy and same calories during lunch, lunch in the B diet resulted in lower blood glucose (by 21-25 percent) and higher insulin (by 23 percent) compared with the lunch in the D diet.

“Recommending a higher energy load at breakfast, when beta cell responsiveness and insulin-mediated muscle glucose uptake are at optimal levels, seems an adequate strategy to decrease post-meal glucose spikes in patients with type 2 diabetes,” said Jakubowicz.

Another study that appeared in the same journal a while ago explored the relationship between diet and diabetes and suggested that for patients suffering from Type 2 diabetes, eating a larger breakfast and lunch may be more beneficial than six smaller meals. So both the studies seem to be pointing towards the same direction – two big meals (breakfast and lunch) and one light dinner are more suitable for patients with Type 2 diabetes.

With inputs from IANS

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