Glycemic and insulinemic responses to breakfast and succeeding second meal in type 2 diabetics

The aim of the present study was to determine the parameters related to glycemic and insulinemic responses of type 2 diabetic patients to three low Glycemic Index (GI) breakfast meals and study the effects of each breakfast meal on a standard lunch meal. Breakfast meals were boiled chickpea, red rice (AT 353) meal and atta roti and the standard lunch was red rice (AT 353) with accompaniments. Study design was random cross over (n = 11 age: 40-62 year). GI and Insulinemic Indices (II) of breakfast meals were calculated with white bread as the standard. Serum glucose peak concentration of chickpea was significantly lower than rice (p = 0.0321), roti (p = 0.0019) and bread (p = 0.0001). GI of chickpea, rice and roti meals were 40 +/- 7, 64 +/- 11 and 88 +/- 9 respectively. GI of chickpea was significantly lower than rice (p = 0.0466) and atta roti (p = 0.0016) meals. Chickpea and rice breakfast meals had low GI and atta roti medium GI. GI values in diabetic patients were not significantly different (p > 0.05) from that obtained previously in the same laboratory in healthy individuals. II of chickpea, rice and roti were 76 +/- 13, 90 +/- 20, 115 +/- 28. Glycemic and insulinemic responses showed a linear positive relationship (r = 0.984) indicating that low GI was due to the macronutrients present in the meals. Breakfast meals given in the present study did not lower Glycemic nor insulinemic responses of the subsequent lunch meals. These data are useful especially in primary patient care for modulating diets of diabetic patients.