Pizza can affect diabetics’ blood sugar for up to 8 hours, suggesting that people with type 1 diabetes need a slow and steady dose of insulin to stay on top of their glucose levels after high-fat, high-carb fare, according to new study findings.

Researchers at Penn State University in Hershey, Pennsylvania, asked 24 people with type 1 diabetes to eat a pizza meal followed by different insulin regimens.

One group took an entire dose of insulin immediately, while another group received half of the same dose immediately, and programmed an insulin pump to continuously administer the second half of the dose over a four-hour period.

Still another group received half of the insulin dose right away, and the second half as a sustained release dose over an eight-hour period.

All groups received the same total amount of insulin.

Reporting in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, Dr. Robert A. Gabbay and his colleagues found that the eight-hour extended dose of insulin did the best job of keeping blood sugar under control - suggesting that the pizza meal affected their blood sugar for up to 8 hours.

In an interview, Gabbay noted that other high-fat foods rich in carbohydrates likely have the same effect as pizza. “These types of foods affect your blood sugar many hours longer than one would expect,” he told.

Gabbay added that more research is needed to determine how diabetics can control their blood sugar after pizza if they are not using a programmable insulin pump.

SOURCE: Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, April 2005.