Effect of High Versus Low Carbohydrate Intake in the Morning on Glycemic Variability and Glycemic Control Measured by Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring in Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus-A Randomized Crossover Study

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 12; no. 2; p. 475
• Main Authors: Rasmussen, Louise, Christensen, Maria Lund, Poulsen, Charlotte Wolff, Rud, Charlotte, Christensen, Alexander Sidelmann, Andersen, Jens Rikardt, Kampmann, Ulla, Ovesen, Per Glud
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 13.02.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Blood; Blood glucose; breakfast diet; carbohydrate distribution; Carbohydrates; Coefficient of variation; Diabetes mellitus; Gestational diabetes; gestational diabetes mellitus; Glucose; Glucose monitoring; glycemic variability; Insulin; Insulin resistance; Meals; mean amplitude of glucose; Monitoring; Randomization; Studies; carbohydrate distribution; glycemic variability; mean amplitude of glucose; gestational diabetes mellitus; breakfast diet
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu12020475

Carbohydrate is the macronutrient that has the greatest impact on blood glucose response. Limited data are available on how carbohydrate distribution throughout the day affects blood glucose in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We aimed to assess how a high-carbohydrate morning-intake (HCM) versus a low-carbohydrate-morning-intake (LCM), affect glycemic variability and glucose control. In this randomized crossover study continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) was performed in 12 women with diet treated GDM (75 g, 2-h OGTT ≥ 8.5 mmol/L), who went through 2 × 3 days of HCM and LCM. A within-subject-analysis showed a significantly higher mean amplitude of glucose excursions (MAGE) (0.7 mmol/L, = 0.004) and coefficient of variation (CV) (5.1%, = 0.01) when comparing HCM with LCM, whereas a significantly lower mean glucose (MG) (-0.3 mmol/L, = 0.002) and fasting blood glucose (FBG) were found (-0.4 mmol/L, = 0.01) on the HCM diet compared to the LCM diet. In addition, insulin resistance, expressed as Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR), decreased significantly during HCM. Results indicate that a carbohydrate distribution of 50% in the morning favors lower blood glucose and improvement in insulin sensitivity in women with GDM, but in contrary gives a higher glycemic variability.