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Carbohydrate Food Pizza and pasta in the evening increase blood sugar
People with prediabetes should better avoid carbohydrate-rich foods such as pizza or pasta in the evening. Because with them starchy and sugary foods have a negative effect on blood sugar regulation, as German researchers have now found out.
Late food with unpleasant consequences
Since late meals are supposed to make you fat, some people use the method of not eating after 6 pm to reduce their weight. High-carbohydrate meals should be better avoided in the evening anyway, especially by people with impaired glucose tolerance. Because this increases their blood sugar, as researchers now found.
Men with prediabetes should better avoid carbohydrate-rich foods such as pizza or pasta in the evenings. Because this increases their blood sugar. (Image: niroworld / fotolia.com) Negative effects on blood sugar regulation
A nutritional study led by the German Institute for Nutrition Research (DIfE) has shown that the so-called internal clock also influences how people with a sugar metabolism disorder react to carbohydrate-rich foods.
As reported by the DIfE and the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), the evening consumption of high-starch and sugary foods in men with pre-diabetes (precursor of diabetes) had a negative effect on blood sugar regulation.
"By comparison, in healthy subjects, carbohydrate intake did not play a significant role in regulating blood sugar," the statement said.
According to the information, only men participated in the study because the study of circadian rhythms in women is considerably more difficult due to the menstrual cycle. The study results were published in the scientific journal "Scientific Reports".
The inner clock plays a role
It has long been known that the so-called internal clock plays a role in the regulation of metabolic processes and also the sugar metabolism is subject to a certain daily rhythm.
In addition, recent studies on rodents indicate that the internal clock also affects how metabolism reacts to the intake of carbohydrates or fats and that certain time frames for the consumption of a carbohydrate-rich or high-fat diet are better suited from a health point of view than others.
In addition, human observational studies have found that people who eat high carbohydrate in the morning but low in fat have a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes or the metabolic syndrome.
The latter is characterized by symptoms such as excessive fat deposits in the abdomen, hypertension and a disturbed sugar and fat metabolism.
However, the exact interaction between the diet and the daily rhythmic regulation of the sugar metabolism has not yet been sufficiently researched.
Study participants with sugar metabolism disorder
To learn more about the physiological mechanisms that underlie this interplay, the scientists at the DIfE conducted a nutritional study on a total of 29 men, who were on average about 46 years old and had an average body mass index of 27, ie normal - were seriously overweight.
In eleven of the subjects a sugar metabolism disorder was detected at the beginning of the study. So they already had elevated fasting blood sugar levels or their blood sugar levels dropped significantly slower than normal after a sugar stress test.
In the remaining study participants, however, the blood sugar regulation was not disturbed, their glucose tolerance was normal.
Fat and carbohydrate diet
During the study, subjects had to follow two separate diets for four weeks each, which delivered the same amount of calories, carbohydrates, fats, and protein.
However, they differed in what time of day the participants consumed mainly carbohydrates or fats.
Thus, the diet plan A provided that the participants from morning to 13:30 carbohydrate-stressed and from 16:30 to 22:00 clock fat-fed. After diet plan B, they ate high-fat meals in the morning and high-carbohydrate foods in the afternoon and evening.
No effect in healthy men
"As our study shows, it is relevant, at least for men with a sugar metabolism disorder, at what time of day they consume a carbohydrate-rich meal," said lead author Katharina Kessler.
"If we compare the blood glucose levels measured by the two diets, their blood sugar levels on Diet B were on average 7.9 percent higher than on Diet A, in which the participants ate high-fat foods in the evening," the scientist continues.
"Interestingly, we did not observe this effect in healthy men, although we generally found a decrease in glucose tolerance throughout the day in both the healthy and the pre-stressed individuals. However, this was much stronger for the latter. "
Avoid high carbohydrate meals in the evening
The researchers were also able to observe a change in the secretion of the intestinal hormones glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and peptide YY (PYY), which contribute to the regulation of sugar metabolism or body weight and whose release is subject to a specific daily rhythm.
Thus, in pre-exposed persons, the blood levels of the two hormones declined much more sharply than in healthy study participants, in parallel with the distinct, afternoon decline in glucose tolerance.
"The circadian rhythm of hormone release influences how we react to carbohydrates," says endocrinologist Andreas F. H. Pfeiffer, who heads the Department of Clinical Nutrition at DIfE.
Therefore, the diabetologist Natalia Rudovich and the scientist Olga Pivovarova DIfE recommend in particular people who already suffer from a disorder of sugar metabolism, to follow their internal clock and avoid carbohydrate-rich meals in the evening. (Ad)