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							| Functional Foods in Health and Disease - Online ISSN: 2160-3855; Print ISSN: 2378-7007



	

				
						
 
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																Functional Foods in Health and Disease - Online ISSN: 2160-3855; Print ISSN: 2378-7007
										

				


				
				
					
					
						
																					
				
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					Vol. 15 No. 12 (2025): December 2025
				
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									Research Articles
							
		



	
		  	 

		
	
		The second-meal effect of Undaria pinnatifida sporophylls (mekabu) in healthy young women: An open-label crossover study
	


	
	
		

							
					Authors

						
							
								Masaki Taga
							
																																		
	
							
								Kazuma Yohizumi
							
																																		
	
							
								Hitomi Kobayashi
							
																																		
	
							
								Naoki Iwamoto
							
																																		


				
			
																	
					
												DOI:
					

					
						
							https://doi.org/10.31989/ffhd.v15i12.1807
						
					
				
			

						
										
					Abstract

					Background: Postprandial hyperglycemia is an early indicator of impaired glucose tolerance and an established risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). While low–glycemic index (GI) foods and soluble dietary fibers have shown efficacy in modulating postprandial glycemia, their capacity to influence glycemic responses to subsequent meals—referred to as the "second-meal effect"—remains underutilized in dietary interventions.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether breakfast consumption of Undaria pinnatifida (mekabu), a seaweed rich in soluble fiber and sulfated polysaccharides, could attenuate postprandial glycemic response at a subsequent meal in healthy young women.

Methods: An open-label, two-period, crossover study was conducted among healthy female participants. Subjects consumed a test breakfast with or without mekabu, followed by a standardized lunch. Capillary blood glucose levels were measured at multiple time points post-lunch to assess second-meal glycemic modulation.

Results: The findings indicated that mekabu consumption at breakfast significantly reduced postprandial blood glucose levels after lunch, compared to the control condition. These effects may be mediated, at least in part, through delayed gastric emptying and enhanced GLP-1 secretion.

Conclusion: Breakfast intake of mekabu may enhance glycemic stability over successive meals by eliciting a second-meal effect. These findings support the potential utility of mekabu as a functional dietary intervention for the early prevention of T2DM.

Keywords: Mekabu (Undaria pinnatifida), Second-meal effect, Soluble dietary fiber, Postprandial glycemia, Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), functional foods, bioactive compounds

				
			
			

						
																																								
						
		


		

						
										
					
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																			2025-12-01
																	

				
							

			
						
										

											
							
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									Vol. 15 No. 12 (2025): December 2025
								
							

						
					
											
							
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								Research Articles
							

						
					
									

			
						
										
					
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																										Copyright (c) 2025 Masaki Taga, Kazuma Yohizumi, Hitomi Kobayashi, Naoki Iwamoto

														This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

																Authors retain the copyright of their articles and grant the Functional Food Center (FFC) and its journals the right of first publication under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, including commercial use, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited. Authors may post and share their published work freely, provided that the original publication in this journal is acknowledged.

By submitting to this journal, authors confirm that their manuscripts are original, not under consideration elsewhere, and that they hold the necessary rights to grant this license. The Functional Food Center encourages open scientific exchange and allows derivative and extended works, provided attribution to the original publication is maintained.

				

			
			

		

	




	




	


							



	

	

					
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