Night Work May Impair Glucose Tolerance
June 3, 2013
Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine
A new study suggests that night work may impair glucose tolerance, supporting a causal role of night work in the increased risk of Type 2 diabetes among shift workers.
Results show that peak glucose levels were 16 percent higher during one night of simulated shift work, compared with one day of a simulated daytime work schedule. Compared with the daytime protocol, insulin levels during the night shift protocol were 40 to 50 percent higher at 80 minutes and 90 minutes after a meal.
"It is surprising that just a single night shift can significantly impair glucose tolerance and increase insulin levels," said lead author Christopher Morris, PhD, postdoctoral research fellow in the Medical Chronobiology Program of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. "These findings are important because they demonstrate, under highly-controlled lab conditions, that acute exposure to night work impairs glucose tolerance. Chronic impaired glucose tolerance is likely to lead to Type 2 diabetes."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130603114146.htm