Mediterranean Diet, Skipping Breakfast Benefits Patients with Diabetes

Mediterranean diet has long been touted as healthy for people wanting to lose weight. A latest study offers an even more exciting reason to consume a heart-healthy Mediterranean diet by suggesting that one large meal is better than consuming several smaller portions of meals throughout the day, especially for people with diabetes.

Several studies have linked Mediterranean diet to better cardiovascular health, reduced risk of cancer as well as Alzheimer's disease. Especially for the middle-aged, Mediterranean diet is known to improve several health aspects and extending life.

This study led by researchers at Linkoping University, Sweden, included 21 patients on whom the effect of the diet was tested. The patients were served three types of diet in a randomized order; they were given a low fat diet, low carbohydrate diet and Mediterranean diet.  Researchers studied the effect of the diet on blood glucose, blood lipids as well as on different hormones. Each day, the researchers collected the patient's blood samples at six time points.

Amongst the three variety of diet, the low fat diet, recommended in the Nordic countries, had nearly 55 percent of the total energy coming from carbohydrates. On the other hand, the low-carbohydrate diet contained low carbohydrate content-almost 20 percent of the energy from carbohydrates and 50 percent of the total energy from fat. The Mediterranean diet included a cup of black coffee for breakfast and all the calories of breakfast and lunch packed in one meal served at midday.

Also the total caloric content consisted energy from 150 ml French red wine for women and 200 ml French red wine for men to consume along with lunch. The food in the Mediterranean diet had an energy content from carbohydrates that was intermediate between the low-fat and the low-carbohydrate meals. The main sources of fat were olives and fatty fish.

"We found that the low-carbohydrate diet increased blood glucose levels much less than the low-fat diet but that levels of triglycerides tended to be high compared to the low-fat diet," says Doctor Hans Guldbrand, who together with Professor Fredrik Nystrom was the principal investigator of the study.

Researchers found that Mediterranean diet that excluded breakfast and had a large portion of lunch and wine did not cause high blood glucose level when compared to the low lunch fat diet, despite such a large single meal, explains Professor Nystrom.

"This suggests that it is favourable to have a large meal instead of several smaller meals when you have diabetes, and it is surprising how often one today refers to the usefulness of the so-called Mediterranean diet but forgets that it also traditionally meant the absence of a breakfast. Our results give reason to reconsider both nutritional composition and meal arrangements for patients with diabetes," says Professor Nystrom.

The study was reported in the journal PLOS ONE.