Squash juice with sweeteners

[MihaiM]

Hi,

I have tried now to measure in real time to see if my blood sugar levels are affected by 0 sugar (actually it says it has 0.5 g sugar per 100 ml) squash with sweeteners. I was having 5.1 mmol/L before drinking the orange glass with sweetener. I did drink it quickly, in about 30 seconds 250 ml. All of a sudden, in a few minutes, my CGM monitor went high from 5.1 to 5.8 mmol. I checked the fingers also and it was worse, saying it's 6.6 mmol/L. How is this possible? Shouldn't squash with sweeteners not raise the blood sugar and especially so much? Also did an experiment with diet coke and the same happened, the blood sugar spiked similarly. Any explanation as to why this happens?

 

[IanBish]

It could be the cephalic phase, whereby your tongue tells your digestive system to expect sweetness, but it never actually arrives. It doesn't happen to everyone.

 

[Nicola M]

You’ve also got to remember that your first value of 5.1 was a CGM value and may not have been 100% accurate whereas your second value of 6.6 was taken with a finger prick, it could have been that you were always around 6.6.

 

[Chris24Main]

I'd back up @IanBish on this - we think of our bodies as simple machines, where they are super-complicated and often are geared up to maintain whatever is normal.

I actually remember watching the Disney Pixar movie "Inside out" (and the sequel for that matter) - and being amazed at just how clever it was..

In this case - you only have to picture a group of emotional characters around a panel, watching you drink that squash - "right - we better get ready for a flood of sugar" - and then stuff happens to make it so.

But - you will probably find that some sweeteners are different to others in the way that they trigger reactions. You may be interested to know that saccharine really only got a bad name because the sugar industry set about to crush it's reputation.. (I've personally never been a fan of any sweetener, so there is no agenda here - I vastly prefer my water flavoured only with coffee or CO2 and apple cider vinegar, but not at the same time)

 

[KennyA]

Hi,

I have tried now to measure in real time to see if my blood sugar levels are affected by 0 sugar (actually it says it has 0.5 g sugar per 100 ml) squash with sweeteners. I was having 5.1 mmol/L before drinking the orange glass with sweetener. I did drink it quickly, in about 30 seconds 250 ml. All of a sudden, in a few minutes, my CGM monitor went high from 5.1 to 5.8 mmol. I checked the fingers also and it was worse, saying it's 6.6 mmol/L. How is this possible? Shouldn't squash with sweeteners not raise the blood sugar and especially so much? Also did an experiment with diet coke and the same happened, the blood sugar spiked similarly. Any explanation as to why this happens?

Could be an adrenaline response. You're testing, your adrenalin might well increase, and your liver helpfully adds some newly made glucose in anticipation of you needing it.

5.1/5.8 is well within acceptable error and the difference between your CGM readings and ypour fingerprick test is to be expected anyway: no read-across guaranteed at all.

I'm not sure I buy the "if I think it's going to be sugar my system reacts that way and my BG goes up" argument. If your body thinks and expects that it's sugar coming in, that would or should trigger an insulin response, and because there is no real sugar around, BG should therefore fall. I don't think blood glucose increases because we think we're eating carb.

 

[IanBish]

I don't think blood glucose increases because we think we're eating carb.

I should have thought further before posting. The cephalic phase can increase the release of insulin, because the body is expecting sugar, which in turn can increase hunger and cravings. On reflection I doubt non-nutritive sweeteners can increase blood glucose.

 

[mark cleaver]

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but what are the preferred sweetness for diabetic. I just need a little bit in my coffees.? Thanks