September 11, 2001
Meal Planning, Food and Diet
Question from :
My three year old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a year ago, and we have noticed that when we have salmon for dinner his 10:00 pm glucose is low after giving Humalog at about 7:30 pm. On a typical evening, we eat dinner at 7:00 pm, give him 1-1.5 units of Humalog, then check him at 10:00 pm and give him 1+ units of NPH. W. Last night we had salmon, broccoli and rice with tomatoes; he ate a good portion of each, we did not give him any Humalog and, at 10:00 pm, he was 120 mg/dl [mmol/L]! We gave him his 10:00 pm NPH, and this morning his glucose was at 50 mg/dl [mmol/L]. We have always noticed this trend with salmon, but I don’t know if this happens with other people.. Is there any reason for this? Are there any research data on the effects of salmon on people with type 1 diabetes?
Answer:
There is nothing special about salmon except that it is high in (good) fats. This likely tends to slow down the absorption of some of the other foods and so you get a slower glycemic rise. I would do exactly as you have done, be good detectives and adjust insulin doses according to specific food requirements. Now you can go find some other food-food interactions and learn what changes in insulin these produce!
SB
