Fasting blood sugar levels can indicate the best diet for people with prediabetes or diabetes

In Massachusetts, data suggests that fasting plasma glucose levels, also called blood sugar levels, could be helpful in determining the type of diet that is most effective for weight management for people with prediabetes or diabetes.

Researchers from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, together with colleagues from Gelesis and the University of Copenhagen presented preliminary data demonstrating that study participants with high fasting plasma glucose lost more weight than those with low fasting plasma glucose when following a high-fiber, low-glycemic diet.

“Fasting blood sugar is easily measured and our findings suggest that it could serve as a useful measure in advising some patients on the type of diet that is most beneficial for their weight loss,” said senior author Sai Krupa Das, Ph.D., in the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.