The impact of meal timing of amino acids and chromium picolinate on postprandial glucose and insulin levels

Abstract: One of the most pressing present day health concern is the constantly growing increase of diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. In fact the WHO estimates that as much as 300 million individuals could suffer from diabetes by 2025. While genetic factors do contribute to these issues the more common cause is modern day environmental factors like diets rich in fat or highly processed food, low levels or lack of physical activity, increased stress levels and obesity. Since both diabetes and the metabolic syndrome are characterized partly by elevated blood glucose levels and increasing resistance of cells to the action of insulin, it becomes imperative that treatment measures should focus on controlling blood glucose levels and preventing insulin resistance. A healthy diet and exercise routine can be an effective treatment strategy as well as decrease the risk of likelihood of developing these conditions. When it comes to diet based treatment, it is imperative that the diet must be rich in low GI foods as these foods elicit a low and steady rise in postprandial glucose levels and hence can prevent high postprandial glycaemia. However these foods are not always accessible and may not necessarily be even liked by the consumers. This is particularly true in the case of breakfast meals as a majority of popular breakfast choices like bread and cereal are high GI foods. One alternative is to develop drinks that can counteract the rise in blood glucose levels when consuming these high GI foods. In fact a candidate drink consisting of carbonated water, chromium picolinate and certain amino acids has shown some promising results with regard to this aspect. While most conventional wisdom dictates a “what not to eat” or “how much” approach towards the treatment or prevention of diabetes or metabolic syndrome, more recent studies have shown that improvements in glycaemia can be obtained by simply timing carbohydrate ingestion after protein and vegetable consumption. The aim of this study was to determine if meal timing had any impact on the efficacy of the candidate drink. The study was a randomized crossover single blind trial with 20 healthy overweight subjects (BMI 27.63 ± 0.536 kg/m2; mean ± sem, age 33.50 ± 2.65 years; mean ± sem).The test subjects had to consume a standardized test meal along with a placebo or the test drink. Besides this they were also made to drink the placebo and test drink prior to the meal as well as during the meal on separate occasions. Postprandial blood glucose and insulin levels were measured. The test subjects also had to fill in computerized questionnaires regarding their appetite during each visit. These computerized questionnaires were performed on a 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS) with end points ranging from “not at all” to “extremely” . The results showed that consuming the drink prior to the meal as opposed to during the meal results in a much greater postprandial insulin response in the 0-15 min time interval. No significant difference in postprandial glucose levels were observed between any of the drinks. Finally the results from the appetite data analysis also showed no significant differences.