Millions of American diabetics have embraced high-protein foods — particularly for breakfast — as a way to help manage the disease, lose weight loss, and reduce blood sugar spikes, following the standard advice from their doctors.
But while common high-protein breakfasts favored by diabetics include healthy eggs, tuna, or soy products, new research reveals that not all high-protein foodstuffs are equally effective.
In fact, one item is pinpointed as much better than the others in managing blood sugar and is easily available in supermarkets, health food stores and online: Whey protein powder.
A study led by Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz and her team at Tel Aviv University in Israel found that diabetics who have drinks containing whey powder for breakfast lost more weight over a period of months and had better control of their blood glucose than those who don’t.
Her conclusion: “People with diabetes Type 2 should have whey powder drinks at breakfast time.”
Jakubowicz — who presented her findings at a recent meeting of the Endocrine Society in Boston — tells Newsmax Health high-protein foods are safe and effective for managing diabetes, beginning with breakfast.
“A high-calorie protein breakfast, medium-sized lunch, and small dinner is a proven successful strategy for weight loss, improved satiety [feeling satisfied] and reduced glucose spikes throughout the day in people with obesity and Type 2 diabetes,” she says.
“However, the benefits of high-protein content at breakfast also depend on the protein source and quality. Whey protein powder — a byproduct of milk during cheese production — induced greater satiety and reduction of glucose spikes after meals compared to other protein sources such as eggs, soy, or tuna.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 29.1 million Americans have diabetes. Most have the Type 2 version, while just over eight million Americans have the more serious Type 1 variety. Type 2 diabetes is often linked to being overweight and sedentary.
For her study, Jakubowicz and her team randomly assigned 48 overweight and obese people with Type 2 diabetes (22 were male) with an average age of 58.9 years, to one of three groups.
They investigated whether whey protein powder for breakfast is more effective than some other high-protein alternatives for weight loss, feeling satisfied, reduction of glucose spikes and HbA1C (glycated hemoglobin) levels.
HbA1C tests are commonly used to diagnose diabetes. By measuring glycated hemoglobin levels, doctors form overall pictures of what a patient’s blood sugar levels may have been over a particular period of weeks or months. Hemoglobin is an iron-containing protein in red blood cells; its function is to carry oxygen through the body.
All participants in the Tel Aviv study were served the same medium-sized lunches and small dinners. But the three groups had different breakfasts: One group ate high-carbohydrate fare including ready-to-eat cereals; the second had a high-protein diet including eggs, tuna, cheese, and soy; and the third group was given shakes made from whey protein powder for breakfast.
The participants received frequent medical tests after meals to measure insulin, glucose, and other levels.
After 12 weeks, the group consuming whey protein shakes for breakfast lost the most weight (an average of 16.7 pounds), compared to 13.4 pounds for those on other high-protein breakfasts, and 6.8 pounds for those in the carbohydrate group.
Another plus: whey protein diet participants felt most satisfied and less hungry during the day, with lower after-meal glucose spikes than those in the other two groups. What’s more, their HbA1C levels decreased more than for the other two groups.
“The whey protein diet significantly suppresses the hunger hormone ghrelin,” Jakubowicz reports, noting ghrelin is a hormone produced by cells lining the stomach and the pancreas. “A whey protein drink is easily prepared with advantages for weight loss and reduction of hunger, glucose spikes, and HbA1C levels.
“We wanted to compare whether this glucose-lowering effect of proteins at breakfast is more efficient when eating whey protein instead of tuna, eggs, and soy. We found that compared to other proteins, not only was there greater reduction of postprandial [after-meal] glucose but also more weight loss and reduction of HbA1C.”
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