What’s For Breakfast? Whole Grains and Calcium!

by Tara Dairman from http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/blog/Tara_Dairman

“What should I eat?” is one of the most common questions asked by people with diabetes, and for good reason. With almost every bite of food there are carbohydrates to count, not to mention calories, fat, vitamins, and minerals to consider. Two new studies may not have all the answers, but their results may help narrow the field down when it comes to breakfast choices for people with diabetes who are trying to lose weight and protect their hearts.

The first study, published this month in the journal Diabetes Care, found that a diet rich in calcium from low-fat dairy products led to more weight loss in overweight people with Type 2 diabetes. This finding was actually the by-product of a six-month study of three different diets: a modified Mediterranean diet, a mixed glycemic index diet, and a low glycemic index diet. (A Mediterranean diet tends to be rich in vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, nuts, olive oil, and fish; the glycemic index measures how quickly different foods raise blood glucose levels, and foods that have a higher glycemic index tend to raise blood glucose levels more quickly. Click here and scroll down to view the glycemic index values of some common foods.)

In the study, 259 overweight people with Type 2 diabetes, average age 55 years old, were randomly assigned to follow one of the three diets for six months. However, dairy consumption was not specified by the diet plans, and it varied from participant to participant depending on personal choice. When the numbers were crunched at the end of the study, the researchers found that the people in all groups who ate the most calcium from low-fat dairy had 2.4-fold better odds of losing more than 8% of their body weight than the people who had the lowest intake of low-fat dairy. This finding held fast even though the high-dairy group consumed more calories than the low-dairy group.

Why did this happen? The researchers write that "Dietary calcium plays a pivotal role in the regulation of energy metabolism," a phenomenon that had been seen in rodent studies in the past. The researchers also hypothesize that the inclusion of good-tasting, low-fat dairy products may help overweight people stick to a reduced-calorie diet.

The results of another recent study found an association between eating whole-grain breakfast cereal and a lowered risk of heart failure. This finding, presented on March 2 at an American Heart Association conference, came out of the Physicians' Health Study. The study followed 10,469 doctors from 1982 to 2006 and assessed their diets and heart health each year by questionnaire. At the start of the study, participants' average age was about 54.

The study found that participants who reported eating whole-grain breakfast cereal (defined as containing at least 25% oat or bran content) seven times a week or more at the beginning of the study had a 28% lower chance of developing heart failure over the course of the study compared to those who never ate whole-grain cereal. Participants who ate whole-grain breakfast cereal two to six times a week had a 22% lower risk of heart failure, while those who ate it up to once a week had a 14% lower risk.

Whole-grain cereals are naturally rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, which may account for the reduced risk. While this study did not focus specifically on people with diabetes, the findings are relevant to them because having diabetes puts people at an increased risk of developing heart disease.

Years of research have shown that eating breakfast helps people lose weight or maintain weight loss. Now, these two new studies have suggested that starting the day with a bowl of whole-grain cereal and low-fat milk or yogurt can play an important role in achieving both weight loss and heart health.