Dr Dale Morrison presents at EASD 2024
Dale Morrison gave a presentation at the Helmsley Charitable Trust symposium on Understanding and Preventing Hypoglycemia in Diabetes as part of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes 2024 meeting in Madrid. Dale’s presentation was titled “Glucoregulatory impact of whey protein ingestion in adults with type 1 diabetes: Potential utility for hypoglycemia prevention” and focused on the use of whey protein ingestion in preventing hypoglycemia for individuals with type 1 diabetes.
In this presentation, Dale presented the preliminary results of his investigation into whey protein mediated glucoregulatory responses, as funded through his recent grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust.
Hypoglycemia remains a challenge for people living with T1D despite advancements in diabetes technology such as Automated Insulin Delivery, and is especially problematic when insulin requirements change rapidly during exercise, or overnight during prolonged fasting. It has been identified that glucagon secretion is impaired in T1D in response to hypoglycemia and to exercise, which limits the body’s ability to access glucose stored in the liver in response to dropping blood glucose levels. However, it has been shown that glucagon secretion is preserved in individuals with T1D in response to whey protein ingestion. This allowsaccess to stored glucose, because the ability of amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) to stimulate glucagon. Therefore, the ingestion of protein may be able to help regulate blood glucose levels when exercising or fasting for individuals with T1D.
Previous studies have found that the faster the protein is absorbed by the body, the better the protein is able to stimulate the release of glucagon, and therefore glucose into the blood. Whey protein, derived from cows milk, has been identified as a quickly absorbed protein, and therefore a protein source of interest in diabetes exercise research.
Despite having the evidence that protein ingestion could prevent hypoglycemia for over 50 year, there has been limited research in this field so far. Dale’s projects, as funded by the Helmsley Charitable Trust first aims to characterise the magnitude, timing, and dose effect of whey protein ingestion on the regulation of blood glucose in adults with T1D. With further research investigating the optimal timing and dose of protein ingestion to be used to reduce the risk of hypoglycemia in people with T1D during, exercise, overnight, and during fasting.
The initial results of the exercise study have detected a dose-effect of whey protein on blood glucagon levels, with an approximate 5-fold increase for low-dose, 7-fold for high-dose, and 9-fold for extra-high-dose protein ingestion. The ingestion of whey protein stimulated glucose production within 10 minutes and resulted in sustained glucose release for several hours, with the effect of protein ingestion on glucose production being closely related to the glucagon response in the body.
The initial results of the overnight study has been promising, demonstrating the potential utility of whey protein ingestion before bedtime for decreasing overnight hypoglycaemic risk. When participants drank a low dose protein shake immediately before sleeping, they experienced a significant increase in blood glucose for up to 6 hours.
Dale’s presentation concluded that the use of whey protein to decrease the risk of hypoglycemia is cost-effective, well-tolerated, and easily translatable to clinical practice. Further results of these studies are to be officially published at a later date. We would like to extend our gratitude to everyone who attended the session and to The Helmsley Charitable Trust for funding this research and contributing to the advancement of this important field.