You Can't Beat Breakfast!

The past few weeks I’ve reported on a number of studies related to preventing diabetes.

1.      Pre-diabetics who exercise at least 150 minutes a week can restore their dysfunctional blood vessels to normal; they get twice the improvement than seen with diabetics.

2.      A second study showed that a change of lifestyle that restores fasting blood sugar at least once in 3 years to a normal level below 100 mg/dl markedly decreases the probability of progression to diabetes.

Here’s a third study to give cheer about.

It has long been a staple of good nutritional advice to regularly consume breakfast. At MDPrevent, we practically shout it from the rooftops.  Still, there has been little research on the relationship between morning eating habits and developing diabetes -- until now.

3.      Eating breakfast is associated with a decreased chance of developing type 2 diabetes according to results of a new study presented by Andrew Odegaard, PhD, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis at a poster session at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 72nd Scientific Sessions.

The studied showed that for each additional day per week of breakfast intake, there was a 5% decreased risk of developing diabetes. When comparing participants who ate breakfast between 0 and 3 times per week and those who ate breakfast 5 times or more, the more frequent consumers had a 31% reduction in diabetes risk.

Still, there was even more good news. Paradoxically, the more regular breakfast eaters also gained less weight.  Now that’s having your breakfast and eating it too!

Even though those with superior diet quality had lower incidences of diabetes, it proved out that breakfast frequency was a more significant factor as it was shown to be more predictive of diabetes risk even when comparing different types of diets.  Now that doesn’t mean that butter pancakes, loaded with whipped cream and caramel are okay for breakfast.  It does mean that a healthy breakfast is both a great way to reduce your diabetes risk and start a wonderful day.

By the way, I start the day with the exact same breakfast every morning, which I try to consume within 90 minutes of awakening.  It’s comprised of a bowl of fresh blueberries, an added sliced banana, a combination of organic whole grain, high fiber, and low simple carbohydrate cereals, seduced with a cup of unsweetened almond milk. Yum, yum, yum.  I’m never hungry until lunch. Sweet!

A New York State of Mind - Ban Soda!

The big health related headline today is that New York City is banning the sale of cups larger than 16 oz. of sweetened sodas. NYC's plan to enact a far-reaching ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks at restaurants, movie theaters and street carts, in the most ambitious effort yet by NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg to combat rising obesity.

The New York Times

"The proposed ban would affect virtually the entire menu of popular sugary drinks found in delis, fast-food franchises and even sports arenas, from energy drinks to pre-sweetened iced teas. The sale of any cup or bottle of sweetened drink larger than 16 fluid ounces — about the size of a medium coffee, and smaller than a common soda bottle — would be prohibited under the first-in-the-nation plan, which could take effect as soon as next March. 

The measure would not apply to diet sodas, fruit juices, dairy-based drinks like milkshakes, or alcoholic beverages; it would not extend to beverages sold in grocery or convenience stores."

Is this a good thing? I am reluctant to criticize any measure or effort to combat obesity, but I am on the fence here. If this is merely the next salvo in the battle to incrementally decrease the consumption of unhealthy food by bringing attention to it and making its consumption more labor intensive, I vote thumbs up.  I applaud Mayor Bloomberg's desire to do something that is readily available to him without getting legislative consent.

My issue is that while sweetened sodas and drinks are an easy path to consumption of unhealthy calories, they may drive higher consumption of unhealthy fruit juices and smoothies (concentrated with fructose), which can also be counted as contributing to the excessive weight epidemic. I would prefer to see warning labels prominently displayed that identify foods that contain an unhealthy amount of simple carbohydrates of a processed nature with a viable alternative available. You can't sustain bans without making sure that a viable alternative is immediately accessible. 

I also prefer education and coaching over food bans (except in the case of the silent killer -- trans-fats.)  We need to educate the populace more explicitly regarding the harms perpetuated by all these sugar-heavy beverages. 

What's the big deal with high sugar consumption? In each of the past few days, I've diagnosed a patient with pre-diabetes. Everyone knows about the dangers of diabetes, but there is not enough discussion about pre-diabetes and that is a huge problem. Yesterday's blog covered the increased benefits of exercising while still pre-diabetic versus diabetic. With nearly 80 million pre-diabetics already in the U.S. and that number steadily climbing, we need to do a lot more than just force people to get refills (still allowed) of sweetened drinks.

Given the nature of this public health crisis, the government should declare war and wage battle as it would against any real enemy of this country. The threats to our nation based on the rising levels of obesity, diabetes, pre-diabetes, depression, dementia,etc. are as threatening to our safety and security as any faced by Homeland Security.  Isn't it time we treated it as such?