Order of food during a meal may influence blood sugar

Reuters Health: Overweight and obese people with type 2 diabetes may feel better after a meal if they start it off with vegetables or proteins and end with the carbs, suggests a new study of 11 people.

Finishing the broccoli and chicken before tucking into bread and fruit juice was tied to a lower rise in blood sugar levels over the next two hours, compared to eating the same foods in the opposite order, researchers report in Diabetes Care.

“When we saw the result, we were really encouraged that this is something that could potentially benefit people,” said Dr. Louis Aronne, the study’s senior author from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes and is often linked to obesity. In type 2 diabetes, the body’s cells are resistant to the hormone insulin, or the body doesn’t make enough of it. Insulin helps the body’s cells use glucose in the blood for fuel.

Drinking whey protein shakes before meals has been linked to lower blood sugar levels after eating, but little was known about the influence of foods, and the order in which they’re consumed, on blood sugar levels following a meal, the researchers write.

Blood sugar normally rises after eating, but for people with diabetes it can spike dangerously. Diabetics are often told to avoid foods high on the glycemic index - a measure of how rapidly a food gets converted to glucose in the blood - like white breads and sugary drinks.

The new research suggests that people may benefit from timing their consumption of carbohydrates during a meal instead of simply avoiding certain foods.