In today’s world of breakfast skipping, sandwiches at your desk and a big dinner when you get home, what effect is this style of eating having on our bodies?
According to a paper published in the journal Diabetologia, for people with type II diabetes eating a big dinner is really not good and causes Postprandial hyperglycaemia (that’s high blood sugar levels after eating to you and me).
Apparently, eating an identical meal in the evening compared to the morning will lead to a prolonged high blood sugar. This has to do with the way our bodies are ticking. So the researchers wanted to look at the effect of either a diet with (1) high energy breakfast and lunch and small dinner or (2) small breakfast and high energy lunch and dinner on (among other things) the insulin and blood sugar levels of people with type II diabetes. This diet has already been shown to significantly reduces postprandial glycaemia in obese non-diabetic individuals.
They found that eating the bigger breakfast leads to a decrease in blood sugar levels and an increase in insulin levels compared to eating the small breakfast and big dinner. Despite the fact that the diets were of the same energy content, people eating a bigger breakfast also had decreased blood sugar levels after lunch and an increased insulin level.
Looks like breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.