Does anyone have a link to an explanation on how diet soda can raise blood sugar? I know that this phenomenon is fairly common in diabetic people, where eating or smelling something sweet (even if it’s sugar-free) can have a sympathetic response in blood sugar levels.
I’m trying to explain why this occurs to my Mom, and we’re hung up on why blood sugar goes up instead of down. Assuming that the smell/taste of the sweet item causes an over-release of insulin, wouldn’t this cause a blood sugar drop, not an increase?
I know I’m missing something here, I just can’t recall what it is. I tried to search on Google, but I haven’t hit the correct combo of search words yet, and I thought I’d ask the masses.
My sister is a Type I (“Juvenile Diabetic”) since 2 years old. I can offer one possibility that may sound vaguely insulting at first but would have saved us alot of trouble if someone asked us:
Are you sure you are getting Diet soda?
Fast Food especially, but restaurants too, tend not to use cans of diet soda. Instead, they use canisters and tubes and syrups. These tubes & dispensing equipment can be screwed up and tend to be used interchangeably. (On a Coke canister 1 time on, a diet Coke the next). Also, you know as well as I what kind of talented and gifted folks are doling out the drinks in the local fast food restaurant ; they can plain screw up the order.
If you have Chem strips and don’t see it coming out of a can try and get Mom to Always Test the drink with a strip. I witnessed 13 some-odd years of testing with my sister, I’d say “diet” soda registered some sugar (usually but not always very, very little) 25% of the time (non-Scientific “memory” stats here) in fast food diet drinks and somewhat less than that in other types of restaurants. Shockingly it was usually NOT that they had screwed up the order, but that sugar was in the Diet Coke.
“… Just another of the little joys being a diabetic in America brings” my Sister’s line when it happened.
jimmmy…I know that this happens all of the time in fast food restaurants. The thought isn’t vaguely insulting at all, no worries.
In this case, though, it’s my sister (who we suspect is developing Type II diabetes, but hasn’t been diagnosed yet) that has experienced the phenomenon and it was after drinking a Diet Coke straight from the can. The reason I’m trying to look it up is because I know that this sympathetic response of increased BG after eating sugar-free foods (and in some cases, just smelling sweet food) has been documented. I just haven’t been able to figure out the search terms I need to use to locate the information on why/how it occurs and what it’s called.
Caffeine is an ergogenic aide. I frees fatty acids for the body to use for energy. In order for the body to use fatty acids for energy, it must convert them to glucose.
I am diabetic and I have never heard of this. Did you eat anything with the drink? I have never heard of the sympathetic blood sugar rise either. I would check with your doctor on the next visit.
As a type 1 diabetic as well (for 9 years) I haveto agree with Kpm. I have never heard of such a thing. The closest I have heard is that diet drinks can make you crave sugar. About a year ago there were a lot of reports of that.
I’m a diabetic of 20 years (Type 1) who drinks about 2 liters of Diet Coke a day, and sweetens the hell out of everything with Equal, Saccharine, and anything else I can find. And I’ve never, ever had the experience reported in the OP, nor has any of my diabetic friends.
Doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, but I’m just saying…I’ve never heard nor experienced it.
IANA diabetic, but I do take meds to control blood sugar for other reasons. The only other time I’ve heard this is from a friend who reads the diet-book-of-the-month. That month it was The Zone by Barry Sears, and she chided me for ordering a diet coke for exactly this reason. I can only assume that’s where she heard it.
slackergirl, you’ve piqued my curiosity. If I may be so bold, what meds do you take, and for what condition? My curiosity is professional, I am a physician, and treat lots and lots of diabetics, and people with glucose intolerance (a pre-diabetic condition), but I can’t come up with a reason to take meds to control blood sugar, if not for those reasons. I recall an article saying that young women who have a strong family history of diabetes may be able to avoid diabetes by using a glitazone.
Please enlighten me, if you are willing. Email me if you prefer. If not, that’s fine too.
No problem. I have PCOS (PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrome) and take Metformin/Glucophage (500 mg/3x per day) to control blood sugar.
It’s a pretty standard treatment these days, I was on Actos a while back, but it made me gain weight, which is definitely not a good thing for me.
If you’re not aware of PCOS, there are other threads around here that can give lots more details. The basics are:
It is related to diabetes somehow, most people with PCOS develop diabetes sooner than later.
There’s a big chicken/egg debate over which happens first, insulin resistence or weight gain in PCOS women. I vote for insulin resistence, I started growing a beard at 15, several years before I started gaining.
The symptoms of PCOS are:
male pattern hair growth (beard, chest, abdomen)
male pattern hair loss
cystic acne
cysts on the ovaries (generally referred to as looking like a “string of pearls” has been wrapped around them.
weight gain (with me, 90 pounds in 8 months, along with the rest of the symptoms when I was 19)
I’m happy to answer more questions about it, I’ve found most MDs to be woefully uninformed, which is sad because it affects 6-10% of women of childbearing age. I see a reproductive endocrinologist for treatment.
Just for the record IIRC “sugar free” drinks are not carbohydrate free and usually contain a few grams of some carbohydrate based filler to hold the sugar substitute and allow it to disperse in the drink. If your body is unusually sensitive and you have not eaten in a while it could be reacting to that.
Thanks, slackergirl. I am aware of the use of metformin in PCOS, but thought it was employed more to treat the the hair, infertility, and cyst problems as opposed to the insulin resistance. I know it can do wonders to stabilize the menstrual pattern. Good to know it can benefit the insulin resistance along with its other effects.
