mattpenn said:During a day at work (teaching) whilst I am dieting, I quite often need a top up of sugar levels. At the moment, I swig Lucozade which is good because it acts so quickly, but are there any better alternatives?
There's no fat in it which is obviously good but can anyone suggest a more practical, healthy substitute?
phoenix said:Are you actually hypo when you obviously need glucose because it's fast acting , or is it just a bit on the low side and you're trying to avoid BG falling further ?
If you are going hypo, its better to try to avoid it than have to remedy it. (I know a bit optimistic!)
Your weight loss, coupled with less food probably means you need to reduce your insulin.
If you're using Basal/bolus and you're going low within 2-3 hours after your rapid injection then you should be reducing your insulin with meals.
You may also need to adjust your basal, but only alter one type of insulin at a time.
If its the latter then the fast action of glucose isn't necessarily the right thing. You might be better using something else that has a lower GI; the healthiest is probably fruit though not easy in the classroom .
When I've been on courses at my hospital (not in the UK) they tend to pass the fruit bowl if someone is lowish rather than hypo. (they distinguish between low and hypo. They define hypo at a slightly lower level than in the UK)
Daibell said:Hi, assuming you are on insulin then I agree with Phoenix that a lower-GI approach might be better unless you are rapidly going hypo? If you need too much Lucozade then perhaps your insulin might need re-balancing? If you aren't on insulin or Gliclazide then I'm surprised you are having Lucozade at all
Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. Not all sugar from fruit is fructose (in fact, one of the alternative names for glucose is "grape sugar"). According to Wikipedia, most fruit contains equal amounts of fructose and glucose (notable exceptions)I was very surprised to learn that small cartons of fruit juice are often used to treat hypos. This surprised me because I always thought that fructose was more slowly absorbed than other sugars, but having tried it, it seems to work and gives the added benefit of vitamins.
AMBrennan said:Are you sure you're allowed to link to that document? Surely there is serious risk of harm if we should glance at it without a DAFNE instructor in the room.
Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. Not all sugar from fruit is fructose (in fact, one of the alternative names for glucose is "grape sugar"). According to Wikipedia, most fruit contains equal amounts of fructose and glucose (notable exceptions)I was very surprised to learn that small cartons of fruit juice are often used to treat hypos. This surprised me because I always thought that fructose was more slowly absorbed than other sugars, but having tried it, it seems to work and gives the added benefit of vitamins.
Orange juice is a favourite, and 200ml contains: 7.9g sucrose (table sugar), 4.6g glucose and 5g fructose.
[sucrose is simply linked glucose-fructose pairs which can be split easily]
Lucozade, too, is about half fructose and half glucose (water+Glucose Fructose Syrup), so there is virtually no difference between this and fruit juice.
However, there is a healthier option: Glucotabs. Since you only really need the glucose to treat hypos, this would allow you to treat hypos with half the calories. Alternatively, you could buy pure glucose (sold, for reasons I don't understand, only with added vitamin C at Boots or Holland and Barret) and mix your own.
Probably not with all the secrecy that sometimes surrounds DAFNEAMBrennan wrote:
Are you sure you're allowed to link to that document? Surely there is serious risk of harm if we should glance at it without a DAFNE instructor in the room
AMBrennan said:As you have pointed out correctly, fructose is metabolised differently. For this reason, it was used quite a lot as a table sugar substitute for diabetics since it doesn't affect BG nearly as much. This also makes fructose unsuitable for treating hypos [You can buy pure fructose too.]
Since orange juice is about 50% fructose, you'd expect that one pack (20g sugar total, 10g of which is glucose) will raise your BG by the same amount as 10g of pure glucose (10g sugar total, all of which is glucose).
That doesn't necessarily say anything about the speed of action though - do you have the tablets with water? I mostly use this for exercise (20min of swimming can drop my BG by 10mmol/l :shock, and I was able to cut total carbs (as well as save a lot of money) by switching to pure glucose mixed with water.
No idea - I use that mostly for sports (i.e. immediately) and use Glucotabs/Dextrosol for treating hypos.Glucose mixed with water isn't terribly convenient to carry when out and about, although it would be fine for home use - how long does it keep mixed up?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?