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Should sugar raise blood sugar levels?

G

gaz1971

Well-Known Member
Messages
59
A daft question it may seem but Im finding that sugar doesnt raise my blood sugar levels at all, yet things Ive been told to eat that are good, such as rice or pasta, send my blood sugar levels through the roof. Im confused, any help appreciated
 
Hi gaz and welcome to the forum :) Normally sugar raises your BG levels as do other carbohydrates. How long after eating sugar have you been testing? I am wondering if some basic information may help you, not knowing for how long you have had diabetes. Go ahead and ask as many questions as you need to and someone will be able to help you.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find well over 30,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes ... rains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
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Hi daisy and thanks for the reply. I have had type 2 since 2001 and thought I had a fair grasp of what was good and bad.

Im also not sure about the advice I have had from my doctor as I was always told that 2 hrs after a meal it was normal for my sugar levels to reach 14 and then start to drop, but after reading your post it seems it shouldnt go above 8.5.
 
I'm sorry but I don't agree with your doctor at all. Although the NICE guidelines give 8.5 as an after meal level, this a maximum and you should aim for lower levels than this if possible. At 2 hours after meals, you should have a similar level to your before meal level. If it's not around the same level then you need to adapt what you eat to achieve this result.
 
Well, I guess GI is wrong then. Or rather, things are more complicated then the brilliant minds that came up with GI would want to you think.

To address your original question, there are a few things commonly referred to as "sugar" - sucrose (table sugar - bonded glucose-fructose pairs), glucose/dextrose, fructose and a few more. Importantly, fructose is metabolised differently from glucose and will not increase your blood sugar very much*; starchy carbohydrates (pasta, bread, etc), on the other hand consists of long glucose chains. So, at the end of the day, starchy carbohydrates have twice as much BG-raising carbohydrates per unit mass.

In my experience that is quite true (had to half my sugar intake for my exercise when I switched from orange juice to pure glucose). Another thing that might contribute to this effect is that you are (hopefully) consuming much less sugar in one session than starchy carbohydrates.

Im also not sure about the advice I have had from my doctor as I was always told that 2 hrs after a meal it was normal for my sugar levels to reach 14 and then start to drop, but after reading your post it seems it shouldnt go above 8.5.
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Somewhat cynically, I think that both statements are correct - BG should be less than 8.5 mmol/l after a meal to reduce the risk of complications (I aim for <6.5 mmol/l because that's easy if you are on insulin) but I think I remember having read that only 20% of diabetics actually achieve this.

* For this reason fructose used to be recommended for diabetics although I think that consensus now is that things are little bit more complicated than that, and that a high-fructose intake may actually be harmful.
 
Its not just my GP, its all the GP's I have seen and the specialists at the local Diabetes clinic have all told me a reading of 14 after a meal is normal and its ok providing it doesnt stay there for long. Basically, everything Ive been told seems to be wrong! I was only having my yearly review at the doctors a couple of weeks ago and was asked what my blood sugar levels were at after meals etc and was told that things were spot on!
 
I like to keep my sugar levels after eating right down, so I always do some exercise about 45 minutes - one hour after eating. The 2-hour test in the morning usually comes in at about my fasting level or just above. When I was diagnosed it was coming in at around 8.5 mmol/L which I felt was too high.

The Diabetic Nurse gave me various leaflets after I was diagnosed which said eat 'starchy' food with each meal. The lists included pasta, rice and potatoes.

I had already come to this forum as I had over a week to wait for my first appointment and had read up on sugar level targets and had decided what to do about my diet, so basically didn't really pay much attention to the 'starchy' food talk. I don't touch pasta, rice or potatoes. I have porridge for breakfast with a tiny bit of fruit sugar, eat pitta breads with lunch and have corn crackers with my meal in the evening.

When I go to the doctor we never discuss my diet. She can see that I've lost weight, my bloods levels are down and that I look healthy. Her attitude is the lower I can get my levels without any medication the better. I don't go and see the Diabetic Nurse any more. She told me back in September that she didn't need to see me again which is fine by me because we didn't really take to each at all.

Personally I would not be happy with the levels your doctors say are ok, but I admit that not being on medication I'm not 100% sure about control with meds. I'd be curious to know what your Hb1Ac is?
 
didie said:
Personally I would not be happy with the levels your doctors say are ok, but I admit that not being on medication I'm not 100% sure about control with meds.


I don't think anyone is including {perhaps especially} the medical profession!Just as we all react differently to food we also react differently to medication. That is why the guidelines are jut that - guidelines.
Unfortunately some HCP's do not seem to understand this - usually because thy have little education/understanding of diabetes and this can lead to patients becoming confused and upset.

AMBrennan is quite right about the sugar - for me anyhow. A small amount of sugar doesn't affect my levels - half a slice of bread -well!

This was not the case when I was first diagnosed. My diet did not seem to affect my levels at all.
After a couple of years of medication I found that I had a very low tolerance of carbs.

I was never given the opportunity to try diet and exercise alone - but I dont think I would have had the correct dietary advice anyhow so it may not have helped.
I think that anyone on medicaion has to keep testing - although not as much as in the beginning, because things can and do, change.
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Well this has been an eye opener. I cant even grasp how little I would have to eat in order to stop my glucose levels going over 8.5. Ive just eaten a handful of bran flakes and my levels have gone to 9!
I was at 5 when I woke up
 
gaz1971 said:
Well this has been an eye opener. I cant even grasp how little I would have to eat in order to stop my glucose levels going over 8.5. Ive just eaten a handful of bran flakes and my levels have gone to 9!
I was at 5 when I woke up
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Gaz, you don't have to eat "little" - you just eat more non-carb foods, such as meat, fish, cheese, eggs, non-carby vegetables, lower-carb crackers such as Ryvita or oatcakes (5g carb per biscuit).

I usually follow a very low carb diet, because I need to lose weight (Viv's Modified Atkins Diet, a sticky thread on the Low-carb Diet part of the forum). It's not suitable for everyone, particularly if you don't want to cut your carbs down so low, but it's worth a read just for the list of low-carb foods.

Today, for instance, I've had an omelette for breakfast; I shall have a big tuna salad for lunch; and (probably) 4 sausages (97% meat) with lots of cauliflower and broccoli for supper, served with butter and mayonnaise (I'm a mayo addict! :crazy: ). I'm never hungry. I snack on cheese, nuts and an occasional apple. Apples don't affect my BGs much.

On this diet my last HbA1c was 5.2 - though I've never been very high, because I was caught early. I'm Type 2.

Testing is the secret, to find out how you react to different foods. For instance, I've found that I can eat a sandwich made with 2 slices of Tesco's Wholemeal Multigrain bread (filling eg chicken salad) without upping my BGs too much. I can also eat a cereal called Lizi's Granola (about a 30g portion) without doing too much harm.

Low-carb can be very varied and enjoyable. Have a look at the low-carb recipe section! :D

Viv 8)
 
The GPs who say a reading of up to 14 peak after a meal is OK are wrong. Just look at the various excellent Diabetes papers on the NHS and NICE websites, many targetted at GPs, and you will find some very sensible guidelines and no way is 14 acceptable.
 
AMBrennan said:
Somewhat cynically, I think that both statements are correct - BG should be less than 8.5 mmol/l after a meal to reduce the risk of complications (I aim for <6.5 mmol/l because that's easy if you are on insulin) but I think I remember having read that only 20% of diabetics actually achieve this.
Click to expand...


And 80% of diabetics develop complications, ironic dont you think?


Regardless of what your doctor tells you Gaz, I would try to keep your bg levels as low as is comfortably possible and that means more meds or fewer carbs, take your choice or look forward to becoming one of the 80% :cry:
 
Well I will be having a word with the GP thats for sure. What alternatives are there to Metformin and Gliclazide? Im on the max dose of Metformin and take 1 80mg Gliclazide, twice a day

Im quite annoyed by this, I have been following this advice since I was diagnosed back in 2001 and every doctor I have seen has told me the same 14 is ok after a meal and now I find out its wrong advice.
 
I have retired to the Philippines now. I was diagnosed as T2 about 2 years ago. Picked up by an annual blood test. However the point I am making is my doctor, a Filipina clearly says 8 maximum, 2 hours after food. So the figure seems to be fairly universal. Always remember that high glucose levels cause the unpleasant and dangerous, effects that can occur.
 
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