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My understanding is that for healthy individuals, spiking blood glucose levels is not a problem. Did you get in to any of the research on that? Glucose is a pro

My understanding is that for healthy individuals, spiking blood glucose levels is not a problem. Did you get in to any of the research on that? Glucose is a problem for diabetics because they can’t regulate it, but healthy people can. At least this is loosely what I have heard, somewhat third hand. Any information is appreciated.

pie420 3y ago
Not a doctor, but from what I have seen, there is a healthy amount of spiking from eating normal foods, but our modern diets are so sugar and carb heavy that the glucose spikes are way outside the range that our bodies evolved to handle. Hunter gatherers would maybe eat some berries here (much smaller and less sweet than modern berries) and there. The modern human eating pizza, tons of bread, ice cream, soda, etc. creates such massive glucose spikes that they are unhealthy and unsustainable for the pancreas to handle for 60+ years. Again, not a doctor and not sure if this is accurate, but this is my very limited understanding
- throwup238 3y ago
  > Hunter gatherers would maybe eat some berries here (much smaller and less sweet than modern berries) and there. Archaic humans had access to plenty of wild fruit that were high in sugar and tubers that were high in complex carbs. They even had access to concentrated forms of sugar like sugarcane and honey. They obviously didn't have refined sugars in everything they eat like we do but that they had access to limited sugar in the form of berries is a persistent myth. They would have been exposed to large glucose spikes regularly whenever they came upon a new tree that was in season while migrating.
  - amenghra 3y ago
    We live 2x-3x longer than we used to. We should take the best possible care of our bodies.
    - Fricken 3y ago
      Only as a statistical average. Hunter gatherers who survived past age 5 had a good chance of living into their 60s and 70s.
      - amenghra 3y ago
        There would be skeletal evidence of that. The oldest remains of early humans points to 35-40 year olds with high child mortality rates per https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/people-lived-up-to-40-years-of-age-5-000-years-ago-167665# https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/people-lived-up-to-40-year...
  - CadmiumYellow 3y ago
    Not to mention humans 150 years ago who ate plenty of bread and still didn't have the problems we have with obesity and diabetes. Or even 50 years ago...
    - NoPicklez 3y ago
      That could also be because a fair amount of the bread in supermarkets today is closer to confectionary than homemade sourdough.
      - EasyMark 3y ago
        light bread starts turning into sugar almost instantly in the mouth and stomach. It's only one step removed and saliva can break it down quickly because it has amylase. Sour dough and whole wheat/grain breads tend to break down a bit slower. You can freeze bread overnight and make it a bit more "resistant" to breaking down quickly and I pretty much do this with all my breads along with toasting them a bit for sandwiches. Pasta can similarly have its glycemic index lowered by first making it "cold"
        int_19h 3y ago
        Do you mean that they need to be cold when they are consumed, or is it the process of freezing itself that does something, even if it's later reheated?
        imp0cat 3y ago
        The process of cooling down converts starches in rice, pasta, potatoes etc... to a more resistant forms that your body cannot process easily.
        thimkerbell 3y ago
        Does chilling also work to convert bread starches into resistant ones, or does it only work for rice and potatoes?
  - cableshaft 3y ago
    They also moved around more than most people do today. Most of us are stuck sitting pretty much all day in front of a computer.
  - EasyMark 3y ago
    fruit and berries do have sugars but in their wild state they tend to have much less than their modern equivalents bred to be sweeter and tastier. Even then they still typically are 75-95% water and often have some fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins which all can help with inflammation unlike snickers bars.
- watwut 3y ago
  I have better life expectancy then them.
- jablongo 3y ago
  It's not really that the pancreas itself can't handle it (though this may be true also). What happens is that having high blood glucose, even if it's not continuously high, is just bad for you by virtue of the high concentration of glucose in your blood. Having high blood glucose leads to the creation of "Advanced Glycation Endproducts" (AGEs) which bind to certain receptors (RAGEs). The AGE-RAGE interaction is linked to downstream diabetes side effects like atherosclerosis.
  - philsnow 3y ago
    There's also research that indicates that cancer thrives in high-glucose environment, and that starving cancers of glucose reduces their size over time.
- 462436347 3y ago
  Wrong: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248414000815 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00472...
anorwell 3y ago
The longevity people think that blood glucose levels are an important predictor for rate of (biological) aging. See e.g. https://www.lifespan.io/topic/blood-glucose-is-a-biomarker-of-aging/ https://www.lifespan.io/topic/blood-glucose-is-a-biomarker-o...
- Attummm 3y ago
  Well, they're not just people. They are longevity scientists.
  - 1234letshaveatw 3y ago
    longevity scientists are just people
pcorsaro 3y ago
I'm not the OP, but I had a CGM several times through Levels. I can tell you that the major spikes (glucose over 200 after sitting between 80-90) really made me feel like shit. The 2 times I can remember it getting that high were when I had too much sushi, and a huge bowl with white rice from Chipotle. Brown rice never seemed to spike me nearly as bad, especially if paired with something high in fiber like black/brown beans. From a long term health perspective, I have no idea if it's a problem or not. I didn't like how bigger spikes felt, so there's probably something to it being bad for you long term. Obviously the more often you spike as a "healthy" person, the less sensitive your body is to insulin. Staying even on my glucose levels is always where I felt the best.
- EasyMark 3y ago
  straight rice and bread break down into sugars -very- quickly in the stomach, that's why mixing them with stuff like you mentioned (heavy in fat and/or protein) can really dampen the spikes in my own observations. Those are just anectdotal though and what works for me doesn't work for everyone. I do like to eat a salad first with some good fibrous veggies though OR something like eat some of a chicken/fish entrée or steak if I'm having that as part of a meal.
T1DTech 3y ago
With Type 1 Diabetes, your pancreas is no longer producing insulin, with Type 2, it's typically that it's not producing enough insulin. My child is healthy, but his pancreas stopped producing insulin years ago. He lives with T1D.
smt88 3y ago
My A1c is right on the edge of prediabetes, so I wasn't as concerned about the spikes as I was about my baseline, how long spikes last, etc.

pie420 3y ago

Not a doctor, but from what I have seen, there is a healthy amount of spiking from eating normal foods, but our modern diets are so sugar and carb heavy that the glucose spikes are way outside the range that our bodies evolved to handle. Hunter gatherers would maybe eat some berries here (much smaller and less sweet than modern berries) and there. The modern human eating pizza, tons of bread, ice cream, soda, etc. creates such massive glucose spikes that they are unhealthy and unsustainable for the pancreas to handle for 60+ years. Again, not a doctor and not sure if this is accurate, but this is my very limited understanding

throwup238 3y ago
> Hunter gatherers would maybe eat some berries here (much smaller and less sweet than modern berries) and there. Archaic humans had access to plenty of wild fruit that were high in sugar and tubers that were high in complex carbs. They even had access to concentrated forms of sugar like sugarcane and honey. They obviously didn't have refined sugars in everything they eat like we do but that they had access to limited sugar in the form of berries is a persistent myth. They would have been exposed to large glucose spikes regularly whenever they came upon a new tree that was in season while migrating.
- amenghra 3y ago
  We live 2x-3x longer than we used to. We should take the best possible care of our bodies.
  - Fricken 3y ago
    Only as a statistical average. Hunter gatherers who survived past age 5 had a good chance of living into their 60s and 70s.
    - amenghra 3y ago
      There would be skeletal evidence of that. The oldest remains of early humans points to 35-40 year olds with high child mortality rates per https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/people-lived-up-to-40-years-of-age-5-000-years-ago-167665# https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/people-lived-up-to-40-year...
- CadmiumYellow 3y ago
  Not to mention humans 150 years ago who ate plenty of bread and still didn't have the problems we have with obesity and diabetes. Or even 50 years ago...
  - NoPicklez 3y ago
    That could also be because a fair amount of the bread in supermarkets today is closer to confectionary than homemade sourdough.
    - EasyMark 3y ago
      light bread starts turning into sugar almost instantly in the mouth and stomach. It's only one step removed and saliva can break it down quickly because it has amylase. Sour dough and whole wheat/grain breads tend to break down a bit slower. You can freeze bread overnight and make it a bit more "resistant" to breaking down quickly and I pretty much do this with all my breads along with toasting them a bit for sandwiches. Pasta can similarly have its glycemic index lowered by first making it "cold"
      - int_19h 3y ago
        Do you mean that they need to be cold when they are consumed, or is it the process of freezing itself that does something, even if it's later reheated?
        imp0cat 3y ago
        The process of cooling down converts starches in rice, pasta, potatoes etc... to a more resistant forms that your body cannot process easily.
        thimkerbell 3y ago
        Does chilling also work to convert bread starches into resistant ones, or does it only work for rice and potatoes?
- cableshaft 3y ago
  They also moved around more than most people do today. Most of us are stuck sitting pretty much all day in front of a computer.
- EasyMark 3y ago
  fruit and berries do have sugars but in their wild state they tend to have much less than their modern equivalents bred to be sweeter and tastier. Even then they still typically are 75-95% water and often have some fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins which all can help with inflammation unlike snickers bars.
watwut 3y ago
I have better life expectancy then them.
jablongo 3y ago
It's not really that the pancreas itself can't handle it (though this may be true also). What happens is that having high blood glucose, even if it's not continuously high, is just bad for you by virtue of the high concentration of glucose in your blood. Having high blood glucose leads to the creation of "Advanced Glycation Endproducts" (AGEs) which bind to certain receptors (RAGEs). The AGE-RAGE interaction is linked to downstream diabetes side effects like atherosclerosis.
- philsnow 3y ago
  There's also research that indicates that cancer thrives in high-glucose environment, and that starving cancers of glucose reduces their size over time.
462436347 3y ago
Wrong: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248414000815 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00472...

anorwell 3y ago

The longevity people think that blood glucose levels are an important predictor for rate of (biological) aging. See e.g. https://www.lifespan.io/topic/blood-glucose-is-a-biomarker-of-aging/ https://www.lifespan.io/topic/blood-glucose-is-a-biomarker-o...

Attummm 3y ago
Well, they're not just people. They are longevity scientists.
- 1234letshaveatw 3y ago
  longevity scientists are just people

pcorsaro 3y ago

I'm not the OP, but I had a CGM several times through Levels. I can tell you that the major spikes (glucose over 200 after sitting between 80-90) really made me feel like shit. The 2 times I can remember it getting that high were when I had too much sushi, and a huge bowl with white rice from Chipotle. Brown rice never seemed to spike me nearly as bad, especially if paired with something high in fiber like black/brown beans. From a long term health perspective, I have no idea if it's a problem or not. I didn't like how bigger spikes felt, so there's probably something to it being bad for you long term. Obviously the more often you spike as a "healthy" person, the less sensitive your body is to insulin. Staying even on my glucose levels is always where I felt the best.

EasyMark 3y ago
straight rice and bread break down into sugars -very- quickly in the stomach, that's why mixing them with stuff like you mentioned (heavy in fat and/or protein) can really dampen the spikes in my own observations. Those are just anectdotal though and what works for me doesn't work for everyone. I do like to eat a salad first with some good fibrous veggies though OR something like eat some of a chicken/fish entrée or steak if I'm having that as part of a meal.

T1DTech 3y ago

With Type 1 Diabetes, your pancreas is no longer producing insulin, with Type 2, it's typically that it's not producing enough insulin. My child is healthy, but his pancreas stopped producing insulin years ago. He lives with T1D.

smt88 3y ago

My A1c is right on the edge of prediabetes, so I wasn't as concerned about the spikes as I was about my baseline, how long spikes last, etc.