JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

More than 15% of U.S. adults with type 2 diabetes have persistent hyperglycemia. Adults with persistent hyperglycemia type 2 diabetes have an elevated health risk of a variety of outcomes, including amputation and mortality from cardiovascular disease and from all causes. Nutrition-focused interventions can be effective for improving glycemic control, reducing anti-hyperglycemic medications, and reducing body weight, all of which are critical outcomes for adults with type 2 diabetes. Carbohydrate intake impacts postprandial glycemia more than any other dietary factor. The American Diabetes Association now recommends a very low-carbohydrate diet, because of its ability to improve glycemic control, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. However, typical nutrition-focused interventions can be burdensome, the interventions often have complex instructions and require completely changing one’s diet. Additionally, adults with type 2 diabetes and persistent hyperglycemia may be more likely to have low health literacy levels, which can be a barrier for adherence to complex interventions.

Objective:

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a digital, small-steps intervention that focuses on implementing a very low-carbohydrate dietary pattern specifically at breakfast for adults with type 2 diabetes and persistent hyperglycemia. The goal is to determine whether this targeted dietary modification can lead to reductions in HbA1c levels and decreased use of anti-hyperglycemic medications, without requiring participants to change their entire diet.

Methods:

The Breakfast Study will enroll adults with an HbA1c of 7.0% or higher to our online, four-month intervention, which will teach participants to change their breakfasts to be very low-carbohydrate. We will measure acceptability and feasibility, plus critical efficacy outcomes, such as changes in HbA1c, anti-hyperglycemic medications, glycemic variability, body weight, blood pressure, and lipids. We will also test whether factors such as sex and baseline insulin resistance significantly moderate the impact of the intervention on change in HbA1c and change in anti-hyperglycemic medications. If the results are promising, we will conduct a follow-up, powered, longer randomized controlled trial of this approach. As the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and the understanding of personalized interventions continue to increase, there is a critical need to provide additional effective options for population-level type 2 diabetes treatment strategies, especially for adults with type 2 diabetes and persistent hyperglycemia.

Results:

As of July 2025, we have enrolled 119 participants. The results will be published separately.

Conclusions:

The Breakfast Study is a non-randomized, pre-post trial to assess the acceptability, feasibility, preliminary effectiveness of an accessible, very low-carbohydrate breakfast for adults with type 2 diabetes and persistent hyperglycemia. This study could provide support for continued research investigating how to lower barriers to dietary interventions for type 2 diabetes. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05986097; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05986097 OHRP IRB Registration Number(s): IRB00000244