After carefully monitoring blood sugar, diets and other factors of 800 people, researchers Eran Elinav and Eran Segal from the Weizmann Institute of Science have developed an algorithm that can accurately reveal about how a person’s blood sugar level will increase after having food.

The researchers have even come up with customized dietary plans to keep blood sugar levels in check. Currently, the most used method to predict a person’s ‘postprandial glycemic responses’ or PPGR is to monitor the carbohydrate level present in his meal.

Another measure is to check the glycemic index (GI). But the research team is not satisfied with these measures. As per the researchers, every human body behaves differently to meals and even to same meals.

In the study, 800 non-diabetic volunteers were enrolled. They were given questionnaires in which they have to fill in information about their medical histories and dietary habits. They also provided stool samples so the research can check their gut microbes.

For a week, they were asked to wear skin-mounted monitors, which measured their blood sugar. Mobile app was also used to record exercise and sleep patterns, stressful events and their meals. The researchers noticed significant variation between volunteers.

“When people talk to their diabetic friends about foods that spike their glucose level, it's really different for everyone. That's the intuition but, as far as I know, it's never been demonstrated quantitatively on this scale”, affirmed Segal.

The differences were due to factors like age and body mass index. An algorithm has been developed with the help of individual characteristics, 137 factors have been included. The algorithm looks into nutrient content as well as other traits.