Blood sugar spikes occur when breakfast is skipped: Study

By: Emily Lunardo | Health News | Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - 12:05 AM

Blood sugar breakfastBy now you know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, well it’s even more so if you’re diabetic. New research outlines that diabetics are at risk of blood sugar spikes if they skip breakfast.

Previously the effects of skipping breakfast for diabetics were unclear, but researchers at Tel Aviv University have now uncovered the hazards. The research suggests when diabetics skip breakfast, not only do they endure spikes in blood sugar, but the effects can last for the remainder of the day.



For the researcher, 22 type 2 diabetics consumed the same calories over two days. The meal consisted of milk, tuna, bread and a chocolate breakfast bar for breakfast and lunch. One on day they consumed both meals, and on the second day they fasted until noon.


Glucose spikes were much higher after lunch and dinner on the day when breakfast was skipped as opposed to when the participants enjoyed breakfast. Jakubowics continued, “This means that reducing the amount of starch and sugars in lunch and dinner will have no effect on reducing elevated glucose levels if diabetic individuals also skip breakfast.”

Researchers believe the spike in glucose by skipping breakfast occurs because pancreatic cells lose their “memory” from dinner and the next day’s lunch. Pancreatic beta cells are responsible for producing insulin. This loss of memory makes the pancreatic beta cells forget how to complete their role and in order to recover an increase in insulin becomes the result.


The findings were published in Diabetes Care.


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