Effect of local diets with added sucrose on glycemic profiles of healthy and diabetic Brazilian subjects.

OBJECTIVE

We set out to determine the daily glycemic profile of healthy and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) persons and to test the hypothesis that small amounts of sucrose added to NIDDM meals would not change their responses.

METHODS

Thirteen NIDDM and six healthy volunteers participated in the study. They initially consumed a diet similar to their home diet and later a diabetic hospital dietary regimen, with and without 30 g/day sugar replacing equivalent food energy. The hospital diet included their usual foods: bread, milk, rice, beans, meat, vegetables and fruits at breakfast, lunch and dinner. To follow their glycemic profile we drew several blood samples during a 22-hour period.

RESULTS

The day-long plasma glucose profile of the NIDDM and healthy subjects showed similar patterns, increasing after the meals and returning later to baseline levels. The extra amount of sucrose consumed did not change the daily glycemic profile or the calculated glycemic area under the 22-hour glycemic curves. These results call attention to the importance of the 22-hour glycemic profile compared to other shorter glycemic indexes.

CONCLUSION

The 22-hour profile has obvious advantage for planning day-long diabetic diets, taking in consideration local daily foods and usual eating habits. Maintenance of a small and traditional amount of food, e.g., sucrose, without harmful effects to the subjects, is another advantage of this proposition. It improves patient compliance as well as social daily life.