Egg Increasing My Blood Sugars

PseudoBob77

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Oh yes this is all about eggs and protein :) sorry about side tracking, i helped steer this into a biology class :)
 

RuthW

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If you haven't read "Think Like a pancreas", I can highly recommend it. There is a section that explains that when protein is eaten without carbohydrate, the liver begins to convert some dietary protein to glucose causing a spike, with eggs being specifically noted. Meanwhile, if eggs are eaten with carbs, they will seem to have no effect on BG. Hope this helps, Paul
That's what happens in my case.
 

YorkshireAli

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If you haven't read "Think Like a pancreas", I can highly recommend it. There is a section that explains that when protein is eaten without carbohydrate, the liver begins to convert some dietary protein to glucose causing a spike, with eggs being specifically noted. Meanwhile, if eggs are eaten with carbs, they will seem to have no effect on BG. Hope this helps, Paul

I have two scrambled eggs with toast (Vogel soya & linseed) for breakfast every morning, and I need 3 or 4 units of Humalog to keep me level afterwards. A couple of mornings recently I've had a really low fasting BG (2.7 and 3.2), so I've had the breakfast without injecting the Humalog, only to go up to 10 or 11 three or four hours later. I don't know whether it's just the eggs or something my liver's "helping" with - I suspect it might be - but for me, eggs with or without carbs need insulin.

I guess if I'm that low to begin with, I need to do a correction dose a couple of hours after breakfast - or should I wait till lunch and correct then?
 

Rrar

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A couple of mornings recently I've had a really low fasting BG (2.7 and 3.2), so I've had the breakfast without injecting the Humalog, only to go up to 10 or 11 three or four hours later. I guess if I'm that low to begin with, I need to do a correction dose a couple of hours after breakfast - or should I wait till lunch and correct then?

I'm not sure, I've always been told if I'm low to eat 15g of fast acting glucose to treat the hypo & then followed by either 20g of normal carbs & take no insulin, or my meal if it's close to a meal time & take the insulin required for my meal there & then. I'm not sure how that works with eggs though as its not a carb.
 

yingtong

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I have alway blouses for protein as I was taught back in the dark days of the 1960's.
 
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noblehead

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I guess if I'm that low to begin with, I need to do a correction dose a couple of hours after breakfast - or should I wait till lunch and correct then?

You should treat the hypo first with glucose and then wait until your bg levels have returned to normal before having your breakfast and insulin, if like me you like your scrambled eggs made with butter & cheese the fat content can delay the absorption of the carbs in the meal.
 
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ronialive

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my relatives are American- and ver there they give protein to raise blood sugars. it is slower but does raise it and they believe it is healthier than sugar. Used more commonly for hypoglycaemia rather then diabetes. But when ever I was hypo she would give me eggs or chicken after I had my Lucozade.
 

phoenix

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https://books.google.com/books?id=z...JAhWMOCYKHWYUAeYQ6AEIPDAI#v=onepage&q&f=false

Page 327 in that book mentions that egg protein had the lowest insulin response between different protein types in people with diabetes who are not insulin dependent.

I'm not sure if that's a coincidence or if it's somehow related to what you are experiencing.
The insulin index and 'glucose score 'for eggs (tested in non ds) was 31, fairly low but was still about the same as that for all bran and most people would take insulin for all bran.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_index
My pet theory (no evidence) is that the protein in eggs is in a highly assimilable form because it has to be easily absorbed by the unborn chick.
like many others I definitely have to take insulin for them.
 
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nigelho

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So I've noticed a pattern emerging... Every time I eat eggs, my sugar levels increase? My sugar level on waking today were 7mmol, tested an hour after eating & they were 12mmol. No carbs eaten, just a cheese & ham omelette. Same thing every time I eat eggs. But any other protein such as chicken, tuna etc, my sugar levels are always fine. Any ideas?
This happens to myself and my daughter, we're both type 1s. I have to allow 10 grams 'carbs' for each egg when I work out my carbs for the meal.
 
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noblehead

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This happens to myself and my daughter, we're both type 1s. I have to allow 10 grams 'carbs' for each egg when I work out my carbs for the meal.


Snap, I need 4 units of insulin for a 4 egg omelette so that's 1u for each egg :)
 
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Blue_Star

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Hello Rrar. I have the exact same problem with eggs my levels just spike up to about 11 or 12 after eating em. I am generally around 4 to 5 before meals. So I've stayed away from eating eggs its been over a month since I last ate. I'm doing fine.
 

tim2000s

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In 1967, it was identified that Leucine causes an increased insulin reaction by Fajans, Floyd, Knopf and Conn and associated it with hypoglycaemic symptoms, but also, at normal physiologically available levels, a glucagon reaction. In a T1D with no insulin, it can therefore only cause a glucagon reaction. Eggs are high in Leucine.

L-Arginine and L-Glutamine (also present in relatively high proportion in eggs) also induce Glucagon secretion (more information available here).

In addition, Egg Yolks contain as their most prevalent fatty acids, Oleic and Palmitic Acid, which account for 70% of the fatty acids in those yolks. If you follow the link in the last paragraph, you'll also find that Oleic and Palmitic acid are the fatty acids that most induce glucagon secretion.

So here we have an answer as to why eggs cause a blood glucose spike without any carbs. And why many other things do as well. They are biologically primed as fat and protein bombs containing precisely the things that cause a glucagon release and therefore are a nuisance for T1Ds.
 
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asyarlk

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When bolusing for protein, when is best to take insulin? Before or after?
 

Riri

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How interesting, I often have eggs but always with a piece of brown toast and lots of butter and hardly ever on their own, although occasionally if there's a cold boiled egg in the fridge and I'm hungry I'll eat it. I haven't noticed any spikes with eggs but now I've read this I'm going to be looking harder!
 

asyarlk

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Do you bolus for protein in the absence of carbs or all the time?