A Surprising Way to Control Blood Sugar

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A Surprising Way to Control Blood Sugar

JoAnn Guest

Mar 20, 2005 14:15 PST

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By Maureen Williams, ND

 

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Healthnotes Newswire (March 10, 2005)—Cooling a potato before it is

eaten reduces its effect on blood sugar levels, according to Nutrition

Research (2004;24:993–1004). This finding, which could also

theoretically apply to other foods, could potentially help people with

insulin disorders, such as diabetes or insulin resistance, to better

control their conditions.

 

Eating food affects blood sugar (blood glucose) in ways that can affect

health. Insulin, a hormone that lowers blood glucose levels by

stimulating cells to take up glucose from the blood, is normally

released when the glucose level in the blood rises after eating.

 

The glycemic index is a scale that measures foods’ effects by ranking

them according to their ability to raise blood glucose levels. The rise

in blood glucose that occurs after eating a food is compared with the

rise that occurs after consuming either white bread or pure glucose to

determine its glycemic index value. Chronic overeating of foods with a

high glycemic index is believed to cause the cells to become resistant

to insulin and increase the risk of type 2 diabetes (sometimes called

adult-onset diabetes). Foods with a low glycemic index are recommended

to people with insulin resistance and diabetes. A number of factors

influence the glycemic index of a given food, including fiber, protein

and fat content; how much it has been processed, and the way it is

cooked. Another proposed factor is the temperature of a food at the time

it is eaten.

 

The current study involved nine healthy men, aged 17 to 27, who were

tested on three separate mornings after fasting the night before. The

test measured blood glucose, insulin, cholesterol, and triglyceride

levels before and for three hours after eating one of three test meals.

The meals were hot boiled potatoes (83.6 °C, or 182.5 °F), boiled

potatoes cooled to 26 degrees C (78.8 °F), or white bread, given to each

participant in random order. Average blood glucose levels were

significantly higher 30 minutes after the hot potato meal than after the

cool potato meal, and remained so for three hours. Triglyceride levels

dropped after eating the cool potatoes but increased after eating the

hot potatoes; this difference was also significant 30 minutes after the

meal and for the rest of the three hours. The glycemic index of hot

potatoes relative to white bread, which was assigned a value of 100, was

found to be significantly higher than for cool potatoes: 121 vs. 77.

 

As these results suggest that hot potatoes can raise blood glucose more

than cool potatoes, it is possible that cooling cooked foods causes a

shift in the structure of their starches that changes the rate at which

glucose is absorbed. Whether further cooling would further diminish a

food’s glycemic effects remains to be determined. The relationship

between the temperature of other foods at the time they are eaten and

their effect on blood glucose levels needs further exploration so that

more accurate recommendations for diabetics and people with insulin

resistance can be made.

 

Maureen Williams, ND, received her bachelor’s degree from the University

of Pennsylvania and her Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr

University in Seattle, WA. She has a private practice in Quechee, VT,

and does extensive work with traditional herbal medicine in Guatemala

and Honduras. Dr. Williams is a regular contributor to Healthnotes

Newswire.

 

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without the prior written consent of Healthnotes, Inc. Healthnotes

Newswire is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not

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_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

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