[Christmas article: The search for the (glycaemic) optimal christmas dinner]

The Danish Christmas meal is not the healthiest and might increase blood glucose fluctuations, which can affect health negatively. Studies have shown that these large blood sugar fluctuations can be reduced by eating a meal in a particular order rather than eating it all at once. We investigated if sequential eating of a Danish Christmas meal affected post-prandial glucose fluctuations.

In a prospective randomised trial, 11 healthy subjects ate a standardised Danish Christmas meal. The subjects ate the meal three times with a wash-out day in between. On the first day, the subjects consumed the meal as they preferred. The following meals were divided into a starter (fresh red cabbage or pork roast) and the rest of the meal, and the opposite starter on the last intervention day. The glucose levels of the participants were monitored by continuous glucose monitoring (Freestyle Libre 2). We used a linear mixed model to compare the effects of the different orders of meal intake on glucose fluctuations.

Nine of 11 participants were women with a mean age of 41.2 (range 25.0-64.0) years and mean glucose levels of 5.2 mmol/L. No differences in the postprandial glucose levels between the meals were found (all p > 0,05).

We found no differences in the postprandial glucose levels in relation to the order of intake of fibers (salad) or protein (roast pork) before carbohydrates. We conclude that it is safe in terms of glycaemic control for healthy people without diabetes to eat a traditional Danish Christmas meal in any order.

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