Abstract
PurposeFlaxseed can be effective at lowering and stabilising blood glucose responses. The aim of this study was to determine whether flaxseed could lower blood glucose response more effectively when consumed as a single portion of 30 g, or a split portion consumed three times per day (10 g flaxseed per portion).MethodsThe study was a randomised, repeated measures, cross-over design. Fifteen healthy participants consumed either (1) three flaxseed muffins containing a total of 30 g of flaxseed once in the morning, (2) three flaxseed muffins consumed at three different timepoints across the day (10 g flaxseed per muffin) or (3) three control muffins consumed at three different timepoints across the day (0 g flaxseed). The 24-h blood glucose response was measured using a continuous glucose monitor. ResultsThe results of this study demonstrated that flaxseed muffins given three times a day were effective at lowering and maintaining blood glucose levels over 24 h, compared to the control muffins and that both flaxseed treatments resulting in a lower blood glucose iAUC during the night.ConclusionThe results of this study indicated that adding flaxseed to a daily diet produced a lower glucose profile over 24 h in a free-living context compared to the control muffins.
Highlights
There is a considerable body of evidence indicating that the consumption of low glycemic index (GI) foods reduces blood glucose fluctuations, and benefits the management and prevention of diabetes and prediabetes [1,2,3]
Fasting blood glucose over three times a day, had the effect of lowering the blood glucose incremental area under the curve (iAUC) over 24 h, this was significant between the control muffins and flaxseed three times a day (p = 0.014)
There were no significant differences in absolute blood glucose between the test days for any examined time period, except for the night (22.00–6.00 h) where there was a significant reduction (p = 0.011) in blood glucose concentration after consuming flaxseed once (4.8 ± 0.3 mmol/l) compared to the control muffins (5.2 ± 0.1 mmol/l)
Summary
There is a considerable body of evidence indicating that the consumption of low glycemic index (GI) foods reduces blood glucose fluctuations, and benefits the management and prevention of diabetes and prediabetes [1,2,3]. Low GI foods help to stabilise blood responses at a normal level for longer period of time [4] minimising potentially large fluctuations in blood glucose levels [2, 5]. Epidemiological evidence suggests that postprandial blood glucose levels are more strongly related to cardiovascular events than fasting blood glucose in individuals with diabetes [6, 7]. Foods which contain a high amount of fibre generally have a lower postprandial blood glucose and insulin response, a lower GI, and are more effective at preventing type two diabetes in healthy individuals [1]. The soluble fibre in flaxseed is mucilage gum and insoluble fibre is cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin [9, 10]
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