Hebrew University study finds eating with a loved one may lower blood sugar spikes

Right · 2Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Sheba Medical Center found that blood glucose after a meal was lower when people ate in the company of someone close than when they ate alone. 1 2 Right · 2Participants ate the same standardized carbohydrate meal in each condition, and those eating in company had smaller glucose spikes and faster glucose recovery. 1 2 Right · 1The Jerusalem Post reported that the meal was 50 grams of carbohydrates in 102 grams of white-wheat bread, with glucose sampled over 120 minutes, and that the average change in glucose level was 23%. 1

Right · 2The study was published in Science Advances under the title "Social Physiology: Human homeostasis is more efficient in social proximity"; Fox News said it appeared in late September. 1 2 Right · 1It was led by Prof. Shir Atzil with PhD student Monia Masalha and Dr. Shai Fuchs of Sheba, and was supported by a European Research Council Starting Grant awarded to Atzil. 1 Right · 2The team calls the principle "social physiology": the idea that basic bodily regulation (homeostasis) works more efficiently when a person is near a close partner. 1 2

Right · 1According to the Jerusalem Post, the paper also reports that social proximity improved temperature regulation during cold exposure and reduced stress responses in adults and infants, that the benefits appeared without physical touch, and that they were not explained by reduced stress. 1 Right · 2Atzil said the effect differed greatly between individuals: some gained a large benefit, some a small one, and some regulated themselves better alone, and the reasons are unknown. 2 1 Right · 1She told the Jerusalem Post that the researchers controlled for age, gender, body-mass index, metabolic health, touch and stress, found no difference between men and women, and describe the study as preliminary, with siblings and strangers to be studied next. 1

Right · 1Atzil suggested the brain, whose main job is keeping the body running, may explain the effect, linking it to how infants learn to regulate their bodies through caregivers; this is her interpretation, not a tested finding. 1 Right · 1The team has not tested people with diabetes or pre-diabetes, which Atzil called the obvious direction for future research, and the researchers said social closeness is not a substitute for medical care, nutrition or exercise. 1 Right · 1Fox News added outside context from New York-area dietitian Erin Palinski-Wade, who said the amount and type of carbohydrates matter most and that stress, sleep, activity, room temperature and noise also affect blood sugar. 2

Right · 1Fox News also noted that, according to the National Institutes of Health, persistently elevated glucose can contribute to heart, kidney, eye and nerve damage. 2