A new study suggests that doctors may be able to help diagnose diabetes and related warning signs through the use of a “muffin test.” The test would be a type of oral glucose tolerance test designed to identify diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance by analyzing the body’s ability to utilize glucose properly.
Oral glucose tolerance tests commonly require an individual to fast for one night and drink a high-sugar beverage the following day. Doctors monitor the individual’s physiological responses to the high dose of sugar, especially how long blood glucose levels remain elevated.
The study suggested that muffins might be a better food for conducting oral glucose tolerance tests—the test would be more tolerable for patients and it might even give doctors a more accurate idea of the individual’s response to food intake.
According to Dr. Michael Traub with Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, current glucose tolerance tests are unpleasant, especially for women. Dr. Traub, who worked on the study, suggested that consuming a muffin would be more pleasant than the glucose solution for most people, noting that many people feel ill following the test.
Dr. Traub commented that a muffin test might also provide more accurate results since it more closely matches what people actually eat.
According to the findings of the study, doctors were able to use muffins in oral glucose tolerance tests to predict impaired glucose tolerance; muffins were also cheaper than standard glucose drinks. Another researcher who did not take part in the study, however, noted that muffin tests may not be as effective as the study indicated and that it may not make the tests more convenient after all.
According to Dr. William Herman, director at the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center in Ann Arbor, results from muffin tests may be difficult to measure because no two muffins are exactly the same in nutritional content, especially in different areas of the world. A glucose drink, on the other hand, contains an exact amount of sugar and allows for more accurate measurements.
“Getting a standardized muffin across the United States and across the world I think would be challenging,” said Dr. Herman. Glucose drinks are “probably more convenient. Glucose solutions have a longer shelf-life. We know exactly what’s in them,” he continued.
The muffin study was conducted on 73 middle-aged women in their 40s and 50s. The women fasted for a night and were given muffins from a local bakery the next day. The researchers measured blood glucose levels two hours after the muffins were given. Another 12 women were given standard oral glucose tolerance tests with glucose drinks.
Eight of the group of 72 women demonstrated impaired glucose tolerance. The researchers reported that a standard glucose drink test would have missed more than half the cases of impaired glucose tolerance. The glucose drink test identified one woman as having impaired glucose tolerance; the muffin test identified another individual who the glucose drink test had missed.
A muffin is much cheaper than a glucose beverage test, according to Dr. Traub, at one dollar versus five dollars. None of the women appeared to have stomach problems from the muffins either, unlike the glucose drinks.
Answering Dr. Herman’s criticisms, Dr. Traub’s team commented that even though muffins might vary from area to area, the test should still provide consistent results. Still, they noted that additional research would be required to determine that the test is reliable.
