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A higher fibre intake has a positive effect on blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes

DCUK NewsBot

DCUK NewsBot

Well-Known Member
A small randomised trial has found that a higher fibre intake, either from food or supplements, can have a positive impact on blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes. Previous studies suggested that meals with soluble fibre take longer to digest, thereby slowing down the rise in blood sugar, so researchers tested whether it was the case regardless of the fibre source or content. Scientists from Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil, gave 19 participants with type 2 diabetes three different breakfasts with the same number of calories but varying in the source and content level of fibre. One breakfast had a high dietary fibre content (9.7g), another contained supplements that provided a slightly lower fibre content (9.1g), and the third breakfast (acting as a control) had normal fibre content (2.5g). A total of 57 meal tests were conducted to see which one of those breakfasts, if any, elicited an undesirable blood sugar response in participants and how they stack up against each other. The researchers compared results using a method called the blood glucose area under the curve (AUC), which is thought to more accurately describe the blood sugar response to foods than other metrics do. For example, on a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), the AUC is a way of representing the amount of time spent in a state of elevated blood sugars based on one's chosen boundaries or settings. The lower the AUC, the better, as a large amount of time spent above the target potentially causes more long-term complications. Researchers found that the AUCs were not significantly different between the breakfast high in dietary fibre and the one high in supplementary fibre. The second interesting finding is that both AUC values for the breakfasts high in dietary fibre and fibre supplement were by far lower than the AUC associated with the normal fibre content breakfast. A separate analysis also calculated the AUCs related to the participants' insulin levels and found that they were slightly higher following the lower fibre supplement-enriched and normal fibre content breakfasts. Overall, the findings seem to show that a higher fibre intake, whether from foods or in supplements, results in a beneficial blood sugar response in people with type 2 diabetes.

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Without being able to see the study it is not possible to draw any conclusions..
I'm getting a bit worried about the way some of this new is being reported @Administrator
The site seems to simply rehash bad news reports from other places with no critical input which in a community of Diabetics is not really very good. Can we have a review of the way this is being done please?
 
bulkbiker said:
Without being able to see the study it is not possible to draw any conclusions..
I'm getting a bit worried about the way some of this new is being reported @Administrator
The site seems to simply rehash bad news reports from other places with no critical input which in a community of Diabetics is not really very good. Can we have a review of the way this is being done please?
Click to expand...
personally I prefer to get research reports in this fashion although I agree it can be difficult to ascertain how well research has been carried out, there always seems to be a reference to who carried out the study and the numbers involved. This is far superior to the alternative of reading the advertising weighted snippets in a comic like the Daily Wail. If there is a general issue with the credence to be given to reports maybe administrator could add a standard form checklist identifying the duration of, numbers, gender, age, reliability (peer reviwed?) and listing supporting and contra reports. You know, all the stuff the hacks of the press say they do!:)
 
It's a promising start and points towards a possible value. However the study is far too small and full of bias. As evidence based medicine it will have little impact but hopefully it's a pre study study of a larger group. Fingers crossed, always good to know what's happening and this format is great
 
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