Breakfast Nutrition and Inpatient Glycemia

A standard hospital meal often contains a high percentage of carbohydrates (CHO), which may not be ideal for patients with diabetes. This concern is particularly pertinent to the breakfast meal, which often contains mainly CHO. Clinical observations suggested that such diets elevate pre-lunch blood glucose (BG) values. The study team compared standard hospital "no concentrated sweets (NCS)" breakfast meals with more balanced meals. The study team hypothesized that a balanced breakfast would improve pre-lunch BG values.

This 8-week pilot study was conducted at Duke Hospital on two non-ICU cardiology wards. Ward A consisted mainly of patients with a primary diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD). Ward B consisted mainly of patients with a primary diagnosis of congestive heart failure (CHF). The intervention breakfast menu included 5 choices containing 40-45g of CHO. All patients on Ward A (with and without diabetes) were given the intervention breakfast for the first 4 weeks of the study, while those on Ward B received standard menus (60-75g CHO in NCS meals). After 4 weeks, the standard and intervention wards were switched. Data were collected only on patients with diabetes who were able to consume meals.