title: Nutritional strategies to prevent hypoglycemia at exercise in diabetic adolescents.
abstract: Studies on nutritional strategies to prevent exercise-induced hypoglycemia in adolescents with type 1 diabetes are scarce.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to compare the effect of two food strategies on blood glucose (BG) during and after 60 min of moderate-intensity exercise.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects performed exercise 120 min after breakfast in three conditions: 1) standardized breakfast + preexercise placebo beverage (PL), 2) standardized breakfast + preexercise CHO beverage (8 mg of CHO·kg of body weight·min of exercise; CHO), or 3) protein-supplemented breakfast (8 mg of protein·kg of body weight·min of exercise added to the standardized breakfast) + preexercise placebo beverage (PROT). As soon as BG falls <4 mmol·L or symptomatic hypoglycemia occurred during exercise, the session was stopped and CHO tablets were provided to correct hypoglycemia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ten subjects (age = 14.0 ± 1.5 yr) participated in all conditions. BG decreased by 6.0 ± 1.9, 1.0 ± 3.1, and 4.6 ± 1.9 mmol·L in PL, CHO, and PROT conditions, respectively (P < 0.05). The proportion of subjects reaching hypoglycemic values or sensations of hypoglycemia was significantly different between conditions with 4/10, 1/10, and 0/10 in the PL, CHO, and PROT conditions (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The preexercise CHO beverage induced the least dramatic BG decrease during exercise. The PROT breakfast induced an overall similar BG drop compared to PL, a larger BG drop compared to CHO, but a similar rate of hypoglycemia compared to CHO. Our results suggest that taking CHO supplement before unplanned exercise is still the best strategy to prevent exercise-induced hypoglycemia in an adolescent population. However, a protein supplement strategy may also have some benefits in limiting the rate of hypoglycemia during and immediately after exercise.
authors.affiliation: Diabetes Research Unit, CRCHUL, Québec, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Marie-Christine
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Dubé
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lavoie
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Galibois
authors.forename: S John
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Weisnagel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000097:blood / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004035:Diet Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007003:Hypoglycemia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose