According to a study published recently in the Endocrine Society's Annual Meeting, eating breakfast early in the morning, and specifically before 8:30 in the morning, reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The report was published on the "Endocrine Society" website, and was carried by sites such as the Washington Post.
According to the study, people who started eating before 8:30 a.m. had lower blood sugar levels and less insulin resistance;
This may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Lead researcher Maryam Ali - who holds a doctorate in medicine from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois - said, "We found that people who started eating early in the day had lower blood sugar levels and less insulin resistance, regardless of whether they shortened." "They ate for less than 10 hours a day, or their food intake was distributed over more than 13 hours a day."
Insulin resistance occurs when the body does not respond to the insulin produced by the pancreas, and glucose is less able to enter cells.
People with insulin resistance may be more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
Both insulin resistance and high blood sugar levels affect a person's metabolism.
The researchers analyzed data from 10,000 and 575 adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
They divided the participants into 3 groups according to the total duration of food intake;
Less than 10 hours, 10-13 hours, more than 13 hours a day.
Then they created 6 subgroups based on when they started eating (before or after 8:30 a.m.).
They analyzed this data;
To determine whether duration and timing of food intake correlated with blood sugar levels, fasting, and estimated insulin resistance.
Blood sugar levels did not differ significantly between the eating groups, and insulin resistance was higher with shorter food intake periods.
However, it was lower in all groups with the time to start eating before 8:30 in the morning.
"These results indicate that timing is strongly related to metabolic measures more than duration, and supports early eating strategies," said Dr. Maryam.
For her part, writer Linda Syring in the Washington Post says that diabetes develops when the level of sugar in the blood is too high, and if the body does not produce enough insulin or does not use it well (a process known as insulin resistance), then the level of sugar in Blood rises sharply;
This leads to type 2 diabetes.
In order to prevent diabetes, health experts advise to lose excess weight, exercise regularly, abstain from smoking, as well as eat healthy food.
The new research showed that blood sugar levels and insulin resistance improved with breakfast early, regardless of how long it took to eat.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a metabolic disease caused by a deficiency of the hormone insulin or a weakening of the normal response of the body's cells to insulin, which enters the sugar in the blood (glucose) into the cells, and in both cases the result is similar, as blood glucose levels rise above the normal limit, and this leads to effects Negative to the body sooner and later.
Insulin is a hormone made by "beta" cells in the pancreas, which secretes insulin into the bloodstream after eating, in response to high blood sugar levels.
Glucose forms the energy that the food that a person eats turns into and is excreted in the blood. The cells of the body take it and burn it to produce the energy needed for its vital processes, and to do so, it needs the hormone insulin, which causes glucose to move from the bloodstream into the cells.
The higher the level of glucose in the blood, the pancreas produces more insulin to reduce it, but if it decreases, the pancreas reduces or stops the secretion of insulin, and in return the body secretes 4 other hormones to raise the level of glucose in the blood, which are glucagon, cortisol, adrenaline and growth hormone.
This causes the liver to release glucose into the bloodstream.
In normal conditions, the body maintains the level of glucose in the blood in a range between 70 and 120 milligrams per deciliter, through a mechanism that ensures that it is maintained even if the person fasts for a long time from food, or (vice versa) consumes a large amount of it;
In diabetes, glucose rises above the normal limit.
Types of diabetes
1- Type 1 diabetes
It is also called "insulin dependent diabetes" and "juvenile diabetes".
It is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks and destroys beta cells in the pancreas.
This leads to a gradual decrease in the amount of insulin secreted by the pancreas.
This destruction process lasts for months or years, and in the end the amount of insulin becomes very little.
This leads to high blood glucose and diabetes symptoms.
The disease develops before the age of 35 years, and those with it are usually between 10 and 16 years old, and it constitutes 5% to 10% of the proportion of people with diabetes.
Treatment of type 1 diabetes requires the patient to be given insulin by injection or pump, and this leads to low and controlling blood glucose.
There is still no cure of this type.
But scientists hope to develop a mechanism to produce new beta cells in people with this type of diabetes, through stem cell research and regenerative medicine.
2- Type 2 diabetes
It is called "non-insulin dependent diabetes" and "adult diabetes", in which the sensitivity of cells to insulin decreases;
That is, the degree of response of the body's cells to it decreases, and this is called "insulin resistance". Cells resist the hormone insulin, whose job is to introduce glucose into them.
Under normal conditions, insulin sticks to the cell, releasing a signal inside it that orders a type of vector to carry glucose from the surface of the cell into it, but in the case of type II diabetes, insulin resistance occurs, which is to block the signal that it sends into the cell.
As a result, glucose, its build-up, and overflow will not enter the bloodstream.
To solve this problem, the pancreas increases its production of insulin, in order to counteract the effect of its resistance, and this may last for months or years.
Ultimately, however, insulin resistance increases, the pancreas becomes exhausted, and blood glucose levels rise.
People with this type are usually obese, and therefore weight reduction and dietary modification are the first treatment mechanisms, in addition to medicines, some of which stimulate the secretion of insulin from the pancreas, and some of them increase the sensitivity of cells to the hormone.
This type usually affects people over the age of 40 years, and accounts for 90% of people with diabetes, and genetics contributes to it more than type 1 diabetes, and obesity is one of the most important factors of diabetes.
But if the diabetic patient does not respond to the required changes in food and movement, or if glucose levels remain high, this may lead to an exacerbation of the disease, which leads the doctor to move in later stages to treatment with insulin injection.
Type 2 diabetes like the first has no cure yet.
But reducing weight and changing the pattern of food and movement leads to better control of the level of glucose in the blood, and may reduce the person's need for treatments such as anti-sugar drugs or insulin injections.
Diabetes symptoms
Extreme thirst
frequent urination.
Loss of energy and decreased vitality.
Increased appetite.
Weight loss.
Sight problems that are initially temporary;
But it may become permanent if your blood glucose is not controlled.
Confusion, loss of consciousness.
Acid accumulation in the blood and loss of consciousness, in patients with type 1 diabetes.
To help prevent type 2 diabetes and its complications, the following should be done:
Work to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
Doing physical activity;
That is, at least 30 minutes of moderate and regular physical activity most days of the week, and controlling the weight requires more physical activity.
Eat a healthy diet that includes 3 to 5 daily servings of fruits and vegetables, and limit your sugar and saturated fat intake.
Avoid tobacco use, as smoking increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.