Models of Nutrition From Continuous Glucose Monitors

Poor diet contributes to more than half of premature deaths related to cardiovascular and metabolic disease, including type 2 diabetes (T2D). At present, the number of adults developing T2D continues to rise, with over 30 million Americans living with T2D. Another 80 million are currently at-risk of progressing from pre-diabetes to T2D. Improving food choices remains a cornerstone of modern diabetes care and can decrease the risk of progression to T2D. However, at present, achieving timely and appropriate lifestyle change in adults with or at-risk of T2D is challenging. Conventional methods to record meal choice and track nutritional composition can be inaccurate (e.g., estimating protein content of a meal) and burdensome (i.e., individuals must manually enter information into a food diary). Interestingly, the blood glucose profile after a meal depends not only on the carbohydrate content but also on the amount of fat, protein, and fiber; as an example, adding fat and protein to carbohydrates generally leads to smaller increases and slower decreases in achieved glucose levels, lowering risk. This suggests that the shape of the glucose response to a meal may have the potential to indicate meal content. A unique opportunity to exploit this information is to use one or more continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). A CGM is a small sensor that attaches to the skin and measures glucose continuously every 1-15 minutes, making it possible to automatically record the glucose responses to meals. Researchers anticipate that findings will help clinicians provide new information to support positive behavior change to reduce the risk of or progression from pre-diabetes to T2D, and make it easier for patients to passively and accurately track nutritional components of their diet, potentially leading to healthier diets and improved health.