CONSUMING WHEY PROTEIN BEFORE MEALS REDUCES BLOOD SUGAR SPIKES

A whey protein drink before breakfast can control erratic glucose levels associated with type 2 diabetes, say Tel Aviv University researchers

Blood sugar surges - after-meal glucose "spikes" - can be life threatening for the 29 million Americans with diabetes. Diabetic blood sugar spikes have been linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer, alzheimer’s diseases ,  , kidney failure, and retinal damage. Now a new Tel Aviv University study, published inDiabetologia, suggests a novel way to suppress these deadly post-meal glucose surges: the consumption of whey protein concentrate, found in the watery portion of milk separated from cheese curds, before breakfast.

According to TAU's Prof. Daniela Jakubowicz and Dr. Julio Wainstein of the Wolfson Medical Center's Diabetes Unit, Prof. Oren Froy of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Prof. Bo Ahrén of Lund University in Sweden, the consumption of whey protein before meals may even keep diabetics' need for insulin treatment at bay.

"What's remarkable is that consuming whey protein before meals reduces the blood sugar spikes seen after meals. It also improves the body's insulin response, putting it in the same range or even higher than that produced by novel anti-diabetic drugs," said Prof. Jakubowicz. "High milk intake has long been associated with lower risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and milk whey protein increases the production of a gut hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) that stimulates insulin secretion. This, in turn, reduces the blood glucose rise after meals."

"We hypothesized that stimulating GLP-1 production by consuming whey protein before a meal would enhance insulin secretion and have beneficial glucose-lowering effects in type 2 diabetes," Prof. Jakubowicz said.

The study was conducted on 15 individuals with well-controlled type 2 diabetes at Wolfson Medical Center. The participants were randomized to receive either 50 grams of whey in 250 ml water or a placebo, followed by a standardized high-glycemic index breakfast of three slices of white bread and sugary jelly - a meal designed to produce the maximum post-meal glucose spike.

Blood samples were taken 30 minutes before the meal, when the whey protein or placebo drinks were consumed. Further blood samples, assessing plasma concentration of glucose, intact GLP-1, and insulin concentrations, were taken when the breakfast was served and at 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 minute intervals after the meal.

The researchers found that glucose levels were reduced by 28 percent after the whey pre-load over the 180-minute post-meal period, with a uniform reduction during early and late phases. With whey pre-load, insulin and GLP-1 responses also were significantly higher (105 and 141 percent, respectively), producing a 96 percent increase in early insulin response.

"The early insulin response that usually is deficient in type-2 diabetes was significantly higher after whey protein than with placebo, and the whey protein preload significantly reduced the elevation of blood glucose after breakfast," said Prof. Jakubowicz. "Whey protein could therefore represent a novel approach for enhancing glucose-lowering strategies in type 2 diabetes."

Based on the findings of this study, the authors are considering a long-term clinical trial to test the enduring benefits of whey protein consumption for diabetics.

BABIES HEALTH STARTS BEFORE CONCEPTION

There's now overwhelming evidence that a child's future health is influenced by more than just their parents' genetic material, and that children born of unhealthy parents will already be pre-programmed for greater risk of poor health, according to University of Adelaide researchers.

In  a feature paper called "Parenting from before conception" published in the journal Science, researchers at the University's Robinson Research Institute say environmental factors prior to conception have more influence on the child's future than previously thought.

"This really is a new frontier for reproductive and developmental research," says corresponding author and Director of the University's Robinson Research Institute, Professor Sarah Robertson.

"It's only been in the last 10 years that the science community has been seriously discussing these issues, and only in the last five years that we've begun to understand the mechanisms of how this is happening -- with much of the work conducted right here at the University of Adelaide."

The paper concludes that parental influences on a child begin before conception, because stored environmental factors in the egg and sperm are contributing more than just genetic material to the child.

"Many things we do in the lead up to conceiving is having an impact on the future development of the child -- from the age of the parents, to poor diet, obesity, smoking and many other factors, all of which influence environmental signals transmitted into the embryo," Professor Robertson says.

"People used to think that it didn't matter, because a child represented a new beginning, with a fresh start. The reality is, we can now say with great certainty that the child doesn't quite start from scratch -- they already carry over a legacy of factors from their parents' experiences that can shape development in the fetus and after birth. Depending on the situation, we can give our children a burden before they've even started life."

This includes a higher risk of metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The likelihood of conditions like anxiety and immune dysfunction can also be affected.

Professor Robertson says current research is also showing that the fathers have a much greater role to play in this than previously thought.

Professor Robertson says this news is not all doom and gloom for would-be parents. "A few lifestyle changes by potential parents and improvements in the right direction, especially in the months leading up to conception, could have a lasting, positive benefit for the future of their child," she says.

LIGHT EMITTING E READ BEFORE BEDTIME CAN ADVERSELY IMPACT SLEEP

Use of a light-emitting electronic device (LE-eBook) in the hours before bedtime can adversely impact overall health, alertness, and the circadian clock which synchronizes the daily rhythm of sleep to external environmental time cues, according to researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) who compared the biological effects of reading an LE-eBook compared to a printed book. These findings of the study are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on December 22, 2014.

"We found the body's natural circadian rhythms were interrupted by the short-wavelength enriched light, otherwise known as blue light, from these electronic devices," said Anne-Marie Chang, PhD, corresponding author, and associate neuroscientist in BWH's Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders. "Participants reading an LE-eBook took longer to fall asleep and had reduced evening sleepiness, reduced melatonin secretion, later timing of their circadian clock and reduced next-morning alertness than when reading a printed book."

Previous research has shown that blue light suppresses melatonin, impacts the circadian clock and increase alertness, but little was known about the effects of this popular technology on sleep. The use of light emitting devices immediately before bedtime is a concern because of the extremely powerful effect that light has on the body's natural sleep/wake pattern, and may thereby play a role in perpetuating sleep deficiency.

During the two-week inpatient study, twelve participants read LE-e-Books on an iPad for four hours before bedtime each night for five consecutive nights. This was repeated with printed books. The order was randomized with some reading the iPad first and others reading the printed book first. Participants reading on the iPad took longer to fall asleep, were less sleepy in the evening, and spent less time in REM sleep. The iPad readers had reduced secretion of melatonin, a hormone which normally rises in the evening and plays a role in inducing sleepiness. Additionally, iPad readers had a delayed circadian rhythm, indicated by melatonin levels, of more than an hour. Participants who read from the iPad were less sleepy before bedtime, but sleepier and less alert the following morning after eight hours of sleep. Although iPads were used in this study, BWH researchers also measured other eReaders, laptops, cell phones, LED monitors, and other electronic devices, all emitting blue light.

"In the past 50 years, there has been a decline in average sleep duration and quality," stated Charles Czeisler, PhD, MD, FRCP, chief, BWH Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders. "Since more people are choosing electronic devices for reading, communication and entertainment, particularly children and adolescents who already experience significant sleep loss, epidemiological research evaluating the long-term consequences of these devices on health and safety is urgently needed."

Researchers emphasize the importance of these findings, given recent evidence linking chronic suppression of melatonin secretion by nocturnal light exposure with the increased risk of breast cancer, colorectal cancer and prostate cancer.