Dietary Fat Influences Insulin Requirements in Type 1 Diabetes

Is this pane di casa?

Everyone with diabetes—whether type 1 or type 2—should know that the amount of carbohydrate in meals has an impact on blood sugar levels and insulin requirements. In general, the more carbs, the more insulin you need, whether that insulin comes from a pharmacy or your pancreas. Less well known is that dietary protein and fat also have an effect on insulin requirements. It’s complicated, and there’s quite a bit of variation from one individual to another. The study at hand involved folks with type 1 diabetes using an insulin pump. The test meal was a piece of bread (pane di casa, 45 g carb) plus avocado and other fats in varying amounts.

From Diabetes Care:

The current study has two important outcomes. First, the type of fat has no statistically or clinically significant impact on postprandial glycemia, but the amount of fat has a significant, dose-dependent effect. Second, the insulin delivery pattern, and in some cases total dose, needs to be adjusted based on the amount of fat in order to minimize the risk of early postprandial hypoglycemia and late postprandial hyperglycemia.

Source: Amount and Type of Dietary Fat, Postprandial Glycemia, and Insulin Requirements in Type 1 Diabetes: A Randomized Within-Subject Trial | Diabetes Care

Steve Parker, M.D.

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