Studies of glycemia and glucosuria in diabetics after breakfast meals of different composition

Abstract

In series I, the effect of four isocaloric, ordinary diabetic breakfast meals on the blood glucose level and on the urinary glucose loss was tested in 9 adult diabetics and three healthy subjects (ages 60 to 75) as well as in five insulin-treated diabetics (ages 18 to 40). All breakfasts derived 20% of the energy from protein, 35% from fat, and 45% from carbohydrates (CHO). The oligosaccharides amounted to 5, 30, 45, and 65% of CHO, respectively. In series II, four isocaloric breakfast meals with CHO amounting to 35 or 70% of the energy, oligosaccharides furnishing one-third or two-thirds of the CHO at each level, were tested in the same way in eight of the adult diabetics and in the three healthy subjects. The two breakfasts with the highest percentage of oligosaccharides in series I caused the smallest increase in the blood glucose level in the adult subjects. In the adults as well as in the juveniles, these breakfasts gave rise to clear symptoms of hypoglycemia and/or a feeling of a deficient satiety in several subjects. In juveniles, the initial blood glucose level turned out to be of greater importance for the outcome of the test than the kind of carbohydrates consumed. In series II, the CHO-rich meals caused significantly greater blood glucose increases than did the low-CHO meals. Despite the unexpected findings that ordinary diabetic breakfast meals, high in oligosaccharides, gave a smaller increase in blood glucose than did meals in which wheat starch predominated, the use of diets rich in oligosaccharides should be avoided because of the risk of overcomsumption owing to hypoglycemic symptoms or to the deficient feeling of satiety.