Jun 25, 2015 05:33 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research suggests that eating vegetables and protein before carbohydrates  could help diabetics control their glucose and insulin levels.

Based on their findings, researchers at Cornell University believe that an "eat-this-then-that rather than an eat-this-instead-of-that approach to diet control," may be more effective at helping patients control their diabetes, UPI reported.

"Carbohydrates raise blood sugar, but if you tell someone not to eat them - or to drastically cut back - it's hard for them to comply," Dr. Louis Aronne, senior author of the study, said in a statement.  "We rely on medicine, but diet is an important part of this process, too. Unfortunately, we've found that it's difficult to get people to change their eating habits."

For the study, researchers  recruited 11 people who were obese, had type 2 diabetes  and took Metformin, an oral drug that helps control glucose levels. To see how food order impacted post-meal glucose levels, researchers had the patients eat a meal, consisting of carbohydrates (ciabatta bread and orange juice), protein, vegetables and fat (chicken breast, lettuce and tomato salad with low-fat dressing and steamed broccoli with butter) twice, on separate days a week apart.

On the day of their first meal, the study participants were instructed  to eat their carbohydrates first, followed 15 minutes later by the protein, vegetables and fat, NewsMax reported. After they finished eating, researchers checked their post-meal glucose levels via blood test at 30, 60 and 120-minute intervals. A week later, researchers again checked patients' fasting glucose levels, and then had them eat the same meal, but with the food order reversed: protein, vegetables and fat first, followed 15 minutes later by the carbohydrates. The same post-meal glucose levels were then collected.

They found that glucose levels were much lower at the 30, 60 and 120 minute checks, "by about 29 percent, 37 percent and 17 percent, respectively, when vegetables and protein were eaten before the carbohydrates," UPI reported. Insulin was also significantly lower when protein and vegetables were eaten first.

Researchers said their findings, which are detailed in the journal Diabetes Care, confirms that the order in which we eat food matters, and points to a new way to effectively control post-meal glucose levels in diabetic patients. 

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