Standardized Steamed Bread Meal Test for Beta-Cell Function

The standardized steamed bread meal was made of 100 g flour, which contained carbohydrates approximately equivalent to 75 g glucose. The Chinese Islet Beta-Cell Function Collaborative Research Group showed that standardized steamed bread meal tolerance test (BMTT) was reproducible and was better tolerated when compared to oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) to assess β-cell function in healthy subjects (18 ). Therefore, in China, BMTT is often used in clinical practice instead of OGTT to evaluate β-cell function in patients previously diagnosed with diabetes (19 (link)). Thus, we used BMTT to assess the second phase insulin secretion (SPIS).
Blood samples were collected in the morning under fasting conditions. Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fasting insulin (FINS), fasting C-peptide (FCP), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP) were measured. Post-load blood samples were collected to assess 2 h plasma glucose (PG_2h), 2 h insulin (INS_2h) and 2 h C-peptide (CP_2h) after the patients ate a 100 g steamed bread.