Go for a double over the ‘grand slam’ for breakfast

Heather Leidy, of
the University of
Missouri  

DIABETES DIGEST – April 30, 2014 – If you skip the pancakes and stick to the sausage and eggs on your Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast, you might be protecting yourself from developing type 2 diabetes. 

At least that’s the early conclusion of researchers at the University of Missouri who compared the blood sugar levels of healthy women who ate three different breakfasts. They presented their study results at the 2014 Experimental Biology meeting this week in San Diego, Calif.

Previous research has shown that extreme increases in glucose and insulin in the blood can lead to poor glucose control and increase an individual's risk of developing diabetes over time. In other words, too much sugar in the diet can lead to type 2 diabetes.

To test that idea, Heather Leidy, an assistant professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at UM and Kevin Maki, of Biofortis Clinical Research, a clinical research organization, asked 34 healthy, premenopausal women, 18-55 years old to test three different convenience type breakfasts for four days in a row.

Each meal had less than 300 calories and had similar amounts of fat and fiber. One of the meals included pancakes with only 3 grams of protein. The other two breakfasts included eggs and sausage, one with 30 grams of protein and the other with 39 grams of protein. Each of the women ate each of the breakfasts for four days in a row. The researchers measured the amount of glucose and insulin in the women’s blood for four hours after they ate each breakfast.

The results, published in The FASEB Journal, showed that the higher-protein breakfast containing 39 grams of protein led to the lowest post-meal spike in blood sugar compared to the high-protein breakfast with 30 grams of protein, or the low-protein breakfast. Leidy says the results suggest that, for healthy women, the consumption of protein-rich breakfasts leads to better glucose control throughout the morning than the consumption of low-protein options.

 “Since most American women consume only about 10-15 grams of protein during breakfast, the 30-39 grams might seem like a challenging dietary change,” Leidy said in a press release, “however, one potential strategy to assist with this change might include the incorporation of prepared convenience meals, such as those included in this study.”

Based on the study’s findings, Leidy and Maki are hopeful that the consumption of protein-rich breakfasts might also benefit individuals with pre-diabetes, although future research is needed to confirm that.

In the meantime, Leidy says, “For women, eating more protein in the morning can beneficially affect their glucose and insulin levels. If you eat healthy now and consume foods that help you control your glucose levels, you may be protecting yourself from developing diabetes in the future.”

It should be noted that sausage-maker Hillshire Brands funded the study.