Continuous Glucose Monitoring of Glycemic Variability During Fasting Post-Sleeve Gastrectomy

Day-long fasting creates considerable metabolic stress that poses challenges in people with diabetes and those who have undergone bariatric surgery. Clinical knowledge of glucose fluctuations and the risks for such patients during fasting is limited.

This study examined the effect of intermittent fasting on glucose excursions, hypoglycemia, and hyperglycemia in people with or without diabetes who had sleeve gastrectomy compared with healthy individuals.

This open-label, prospective study compared interstitial glucose profiles measured with continuous glucose monitoring system for 72 h during fasting and non-fasting periods between four groups comprising 15 participants each: people with obesity and medicine-treated type 2 diabetes (T2D) only, obesity and T2D treated with sleeve gastrectomy, obesity without T2D treated with sleeve gastrectomy, and healthy, normal-weight non-diabetic controls.

The mean 72-h glucose concentration was significantly lower during the fasting period for all groups (p ≤ 0.041), with the highest glucose concentrations in the medicine-treated T2D-only group and the lowest concentrations in the sleeve gastrectomy in non-T2D group. The mean glucose profiles of all the groups showed a marked increase in interstitial glucose on breaking the fast, which was exaggerated in the two diabetes groups. The mean amplitude of glycemic excursions did not differ significantly within each group between fasting and non-fasting. No significant difference was noted in the fraction of time in the hypoglycemic range between the fasting and non-fasting periods in any group.

Intermittent fasting had no adverse effect on glycemic control in people with or without diabetes who had undergone sleeve gastrectomy.