- Glycemic peaks are anomalous oscillations in the curve representing glycemic variability that cause very precise damage.
- They depend on the intake of all types of sugars, even those present in fruit and honey or in usually unsuspected foods.
- Sugars are not “enemies” of our body. Knowing them and taking them in the correct way allows you to adjust the glucose curve and safeguard our health.
Sugars are practically everywhere. We eat too many of them, often without realizing it, putting our health at risk. For years it was thought that blood sugar values were enough to indicate its effects on the body. Today, however, it is being discovered that the most harmful consequences derive from glycemic peak.
Attacks of hunger and chronic fatigue are just some of the milder and more common symptoms. Among the most serious, cardiovascular pathologies, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s. How to avoid the worst? We collected the advice of some specialists on the subject, who explained to us why sugar peaks and glycemic variability are dangerous and how we can contain them, without giving up the pleasure of food. Sweets and carbohydrates included.
Simple, invisible, hidden sugars
What triggers a glycemic peak? Let’s start with the basics and brush up on some chemistry. Our cells, like those of animals and plants, need energy to live, and the primary source of this energy is the glucose. We mostly get it through food, in the form of two carbohydrates: starches and sugars.
The latter, which include glucose, fructose, sucrose (the union of the first two molecules) and lactose, are called fast-absorbing or “simple” carbohydratesbecause they immediately enter the bloodstream. We find them in nature in many foods such as fruits, vegetables and dairy products, but they are also added artificially to many others, such as breads, soft drinks, snacks and condiments. It is also ai artificially added sugars that you need to pay attention.
In fact, foods that naturally contain sugar are usually higher in fiber, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, which slow down the rate at which it is digested and absorbed and make us feel full. On the contrary, the so-called ultra-processed foodsi.e. industrially processed to make them tastier and make them last longer on supermarket shelves, they are often low in fiber and high in sugar, fat and salt. Empty caloriesharmful and low in nutrients.
“There are a number of foods that we rarely perceive as sugary. This category includes ‘hidden’ sugars, i.e. those that we do not immediately associate with sugar intake (breakfast cereals, vegetable drinks, ketchup, fruit yoghurt…)”, explains the biologist and nutritionist Dr. Linda Vona.
These ingredients are often “disguised” in the labels on product packaging: barley malt, cane sugar, corn syrup, molasses, honey and all those substances that end in -ol, i polyoli such as xylitol, maltitol, erythritol which, despite being low in calories, can indirectly stimulate glycemic peaks and make us fat and ill. These are operations health washing from which it is better to be wary.
“The fundamental point, unfortunately still unclear to most, is that polyols, although they do not have an immediate effect on the increase in blood sugar (glycaemia), nevertheless act indirectly on insulin resistance, a phenomenon for which the body will be less and less able to handle carbohydrates. The most common effect in the short term may be the increase in fat, which, if you do not intervene with a decisive change in eating habits and lifestyle, is associated with serious metabolic disorders and pathologies, including diabetes”. continues Vona. Now that we have clarified substances, let’s understand what happens when there is a glycemic peak.
Blood sugar spike and roller coaster
And sudden rush of sugar causes a rapid insulin release, the hormone that carries sugar from the bloodstream to the body’s cells. Problems arise when there is too much sugar in the blood. The liver, in fact, can store a part of the excess, the rest is stored in the muscles but finally what remains it accumulates as fat. When insulin has done its job blood sugar levels drop rapidly leaving one feeling of hunger and at the same time making us fat. For our body, it’s like getting on and off a roller coaster all the time.
“Glycemic peaks are abnormal fluctuations. In the past, the definition of glycemic variability was very generic, sometimes analyzing the oscillations of fasting blood sugar, sometimes the post-prandial glycemic peaks or the variation of glycated hemoglobin over time”, explains Dr. Attilio Specianiclinical immunologist and allergy specialist who, with his research group, has been studying the effects of glycation in the clinical setting for years.
“Today, however, the correct definition refers to the measurement of the amplitude, frequency and duration of glucose fluctuations during the 24 hours, measured through innovative biomarkers such as methylglyoxal, with the support of new generation sensors defined as glucometers. These are devices equipped with specific sensors to be applied to the skin and today used only in some areas of diabetes therapy (already identified) or in clinical and pharmacological research areas”.
Some people are always hungry
These too rapid flows of glucose have important consequences on our cells: they are released free radicalsmolecules responsible for oxidative stress of the body, and it favors the glycation, a kind of “caramelization” of proteins, enzymes and DNA also at the basis of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. In general, the one that triggers is one state of inflammation of the body that slowly damages organs and tissues. Finally, a chronically elevated insulin levelneeded to lower blood sugar due to spikes, can lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Luckily, our body sends us daily signals that are pretty easy to listen to. Let’s talk about short-term symptoms of glycemic variability, which vary from person to person. There are those who feel exhausted and not very clear-headed, those who complain of night sweats, migraines and mood swings, those who get sicker and worse, even with coronavirus. Then there are those who are always hungrybecause he is no longer able to feel satiety hormone (leptin) boosts due to too much insulin.
“When what we eat causes anomalous peaks, we witness a fluctuation in values that science has precisely defined as ‘glycemic variability’ and which turns out to be one of the most important causes of illness and mortality”, warns Speciani. “Knowing your own metabolic, inflammatory and genetic characteristics allows you to enjoy even sweet foods without too much alarmism. For this reason, measuring any damage from sugar in advance (Methylglyoxal and Glycated Albumin) is certainly better than assuming”. And here we are, then to the remedies.
The remedy worked
Exist specific test (well explained on the GEK Lab group website) which allow you to identify any individual sugar excesses and set a personalized dietwith the right food variety, including desserts.
The list of solutions and remedies to flatten the glycemic curve also includes simple tips that we can put into practice in everyday life. Biochemistry and mathematics are widely discussed Jessie Unweared in her bestseller “The Glucose Revolution” and on the 1 million-follower Instagram profile @glucosegoddes (the goddess of glucose).
Here are the main ones:
- eat foods in the right order: first the fibers, then the proteins and fats, lastly the starch and sugars. “It is very useful to start the meal with a portion of raw vegetables so that on the one hand the fiber allows the slowing down of the absorption of subsequent nutrients (including carbohydrates) and on the other it allows the so-called “panallergens” to be inserted first ” (molecules contained within raw vegetables that the immune system identifies as harmless thus sending an anti-inflammatory signal towards them and consequently also towards the foods that are being eaten during the meal”, advises Vona.
- stop counting calories: as a scientific measure they are not in question, but as the Economist journalist Peter Wilson explains in an interesting report, thinking that it is enough to control them to have a healthy diet is a dangerous illusion.
- flatten the curve from breakfast: a wrong breakfast, based on starch and sugars (see muesli and fruit, for example) is like a ticket for the glucose roller coaster, summarizes Inchauspé. Eating a savory breakfast, which includes vegetables, proteins and fats can make us feel more energetic and full from the start of the day.
- dress up carbs: when we eat them, let’s get used to accompanying them with fibres, fats and proteins. Combining glucose with other molecules causes the body to receive it at a more manageable and natural rate, and the blood sugar spike is smoothed out.
- better a dessert after a meal than a snack on an empty stomach: this makes it possible to reduce the postprandial state, which is particularly demanding for the body, and to avoid sudden peaks.
- move after eating: each muscle contraction burns glucose molecules, without the need for insulin. Even a ten-minute walk within 70 minutes of the end of the meal is enough to mitigate the curve.
Two other precautions not to be underestimated, suggests Vona, are the cooking method and the texture of foods: cooking pasta al dente, for example, allows you to maintain a lower glycemic index. While whole foods rather than chopped or smoothies slow down the absorption of glucose.
All of these tips have one thing in common: the invitation to focus not just on diet but on one sustainable lifestyle, which favors quality food and physical activity. Why on the plate there is room for everything, even sugar.
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