New Delhi, June 5 || Blood sugar responses after food, especially carbohydrates, may indicate metabolic health status as well as signal the risk of prediabetes, according to a study.
Researchers from Stanford University in the US explained that the differences in blood sugar response patterns among individuals were associated with specific metabolic conditions such as insulin resistance or beta cell dysfunction -- both can lead to diabetes.
The findings, published in Nature Medicine, suggest that this variability in blood sugar response could lead to personalised prevention and treatment strategies for prediabetes and diabetes.
"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," said Michael Snyder, Professor in Genetics at Stanford Medicine.
In the study, 55 participants without a history of Type 2 diabetes underwent metabolic testing for insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction. The participants were also subjected to multi-omics profiling, which included tests for triglyceride levels, metabolites in the plasma of the blood, measures of liver function, and gut microbiome data.
Just under half of the participants, 26 in total, had prediabetes.