Having high glucose levels once eating is linked to health problems, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity. Previous analysis has shown that a snack a couple of hours before a meal will help control glucose levels, which may partly explain why the first issue we eat each day (i.e. Breakfast) tends to increase blood sugars more than other later meals.
This study investigated whether waking-up at night to consume some protein would possibly keep blood sugars lower the following morning. Amazingly, the blood sugar response to breakfast was higher once participants had consumed protein instead of plain water at 4 am.
These sudden findings could also be informative for people trying to boost their control of glucose levels.
One explanation for the result is that the body does not expect or need much food to be consumed during the night and so the protein itself was turned into sugar. This may result in the body having more carbohydrates already available upon waking such that the energy in the breakfast can less easily be used or stored, so it builds-up more in the blood.
The researchers at the University of Bath studied fifteen healthy young men and women (8 females and 7 males). The participants were woken up at 4 am to drink 300 ml of a water solution, either with or without 63 grams of whey protein.
They then went back to sleep and at 9 am were provided with a standard amount of porridge for breakfast, with blood samples collected for 2 hours afterward to check the blood glucose response.
The participants then returned to the lab to do the same again a week or so later but were provided with the other drink at night (4 am) so that we could compare the glucose response to the same breakfast in the same person and see the effects of the night-time protein.
