Examine members’ blood glucose responses to meals equivalent to grapes and potatoes diverse relying on their metabolic dysfunction. Credit score: Emily Moskal/Stanford Medication
A examine led by researchers at Stanford Medication reveals that variations in blood sugar responses to sure carbohydrates rely on particulars of a person’s metabolic well being standing.
The variations in blood sugar response patterns amongst people had been related to particular metabolic situations equivalent to insulin resistance or beta cell dysfunction, each of which might result in diabetes. The examine findings recommend that this variability in blood sugar response may result in customized prevention and remedy methods for prediabetes and diabetes.
“Right now, the American Diabetes Association dietary guidelines do not work that well because they lump everyone together. This study suggests that not only are there subtypes within prediabetes, but also that your subtype could determine the foods you should and should not eat,” mentioned Michael Snyder, Ph.D., the Stanford W. Ascherman, MD, FACS Professor in Genetics.
A paper explaining the analysis was printed in Nature Medication.
Tracey McLaughlin, MD, a professor of endocrinology, co-led the examine with Snyder. Yue Wu, Ph.D., postdoctoral scholar in genetics; Ben Ehlert, a graduate pupil in biomedical information science; and Ahmed Metwally, Ph.D., a former postdoctoral scholar at Stanford Medication who’s now a analysis scientist at Google, are joint first authors.
Blood sugar responses are a window to metabolic well being
There’s a couple of pathway to diabetes, which is at the moment recognized primarily based on elevated blood sugar ranges, referred to as hyperglycemia. Beta cells within the pancreas make the hormone insulin, which is then distributed to cells all through the physique to assist convert glucose, or sugar, within the blood into power.
Beta cell dysfunction happens when the pancreas fails to make or to launch sufficient insulin, and insulin resistance happens when cells within the physique don’t reply absolutely to insulin. Each beta cell dysfunction and insulin resistance can contribute to the excessive blood sugar ranges that outline prediabetes and sort 2 diabetes.
Within the examine, 55 members and not using a historical past of kind 2 diabetes underwent metabolic testing for insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction along with multi-omics profiling, which included checks for triglyceride ranges, metabolites in plasma of the blood, measures of liver perform and intestine microbiome information.
Just below half of the members, 26 in whole, had prediabetes, which was not shocking provided that one in three adults within the U.S. has prediabetes.
The examine members wore steady glucose screens and ate same-sized parts of various carbohydrates that had been delivered to their properties. There have been seven meals examined: jasmine rice; buttermilk bread; shredded potato; pasta; canned black beans; grapes; and a berry combine containing blackberries, strawberries and blueberries.
The members consumed the meals very first thing within the morning, after fasting for 10 to 12 hours. Every participant ate every meals kind twice, and the analysis group tracked their blood sugar response throughout the three hours after their meal.
Many members had a blood glucose spike after consuming rice or grapes, no matter their metabolic well being standing. The blood glucose responses to meals containing the best quantities of resistant starch—potatoes and pasta—diverse relying on the members’ metabolic dysfunction.
“Starchy foods were not equal; there was a lot of individual variability in which foods produced the highest glucose spike,” Wu mentioned.
The very best blood sugar spikes after consuming pasta occurred in members who had insulin resistance, and the best spikes after consuming potatoes occurred in members who had been both insulin resistant or had beta cell dysfunction.
The multi-omics profiling confirmed that the potato-spiking members additionally had excessive ranges of triglycerides, fatty acids and different metabolites generally seen in folks with insulin resistance.
Glucose spikes to beans had been related to histidine and keto metabolism, a state through which the physique primarily makes use of fats for power. Individuals whose blood sugar spiked after consuming bread had been extra prone to have hypertension, or hypertension.
A potential potato-to-grape biomarker
The very best blood glucose spikes after consuming potatoes occurred within the members who had been essentially the most insulin resistant and had the bottom beta cell perform. Everybody spiked to some extent after consuming grapes. The comparability of the blood glucose responses to potatoes versus grapes was related to having insulin resistance, suggesting that this ratio may function a real-world biomarker for insulin resistance sooner or later.
“Such a biomarker would be useful because insulin resistance is amenable to lifestyle and medication interventions that can reduce risk for diabetes in high- risk individuals. At present there is no easy way to diagnose it in the clinic,” McLaughlin mentioned.
Consuming to stop blood glucose spiking
The researchers additionally examined whether or not consuming a portion of fiber, protein or fats earlier than carbohydrates diminished blood sugar spikes. The members ate pea fiber powder, protein from boiled egg whites or fats within the type of crème fraîche 10 minutes earlier than consuming rice.
Consuming fiber or protein earlier than the rice lowered the glucose spike, and consuming fats earlier than the rice delayed the height of the spike. However these modifications in blood glucose response occurred solely within the metabolically wholesome members who had been insulin-sensitive or had regular beta cell perform.
Although consuming fats, protein or fiber earlier than carbohydrates had minimal affect on the blood glucose response patterns in members with insulin resistance or beta cell dysfunction, McLaughlin and Snyder each suppose such a mitigation is price additional analysis.
“Eating carbohydrates later in a meal is still a good idea even though it has not yet been sorted out whether it is best to eat protein, fat or fiber before carbohydrates. Eat your salad or hamburger before your French fries,” Snyder advisable.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins College, Ultima Genomics, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham College, College of Bergen and Cairo College contributed to this examine.
Extra data:
Particular person variations in glycemic responses to carbohydrates and underlying metabolic physiology, Nature Medication (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-025-03719-2
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Stanford College Medical Heart
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Blood sugar response to varied carbohydrates might level to metabolic well being subtypes (2025, June 4)
retrieved 4 June 2025
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