A new SRMA from our team at INQUIS looked at the acute effect of adding protein to a carbohydrate meal on postprandial glucose and insulin responses. Starting with a literature search that identified 8,550 reports; after excluding 7,857 reports based on title or abstract, and 693 research articles that were reviewed in full, data from 73 reports were included in the meta-analysis.

The authors concluded that adding dairy or plant protein to a carbohydrate-containing meal elicits physiologically significant reductions in glucose response and increases in insulin response. Animal protein has less consistent effects, but may slightly reduce glucose and may increase insulin. In people with type 2 diabetes protein may not have such large and consistent effects.

“This paper is the only such systematic review of its kind,” says Dr. Thomas Wolever, Principal Scientist and Medical Director at INQUIS and lead author on this paper. “This topic has not been looked at before. By quantifying the dose-response effects of various types of protein in different populations, this SRMA improves our ability to predict the relative glucose responses of different mixed meals. Furthermore, it identifies important gaps in the literature where more research is needed. The diagrams and graphs from this review are exceptional. I’ve seen many graphs in my career, and these are beautiful.”

Click here to read the full research article