Spice and insulin

(Chris Robertson) #1

I remember one of Dr Fung’s books briefly mentioned hot food and it’s effects on insulin. I can’t remember if he said it did or didn’t have a major impact on insulin. Anybody know??? I’m thinking about making my own hot sauce out of Carolina reapers and apple cider vinegar (nothing else, so it’ll be very low carb) but I don’t want an insulin spike.

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #2

Oh gosh. I hope not. I love hot food and use sauce almost every day.

(Doug) #3

Capsaicin (what makes hot peppers “hot”) lowers blood sugar, if anything. Some hot peppers are a traditional diabetes treatment in Jamaica (for whatever that’s worth). I’ve heard “lower inflammation” due to hot peppers before, but this website makes some perhaps over-the-top claims:

The following study found that eating the hot stuff with a meal produced less insulin secretion and a faster rate of insulin clearance by the liver (increased insulin sensitivity):

(Chris Robertson) #4

Good to know. I’m off to make some hot sauce.

On a side note, the channel 4 show Food Unwrapped said that recent scientific research indicates that spicy food helps turn white fat into brown fat making it easier to lose weight.

(Phil Maskell ) #5

Shame it plays havoc with my guts or I’d eat more, I love the taste of spicy food. It just doesn’t love me :scream:

#6

I can’t remember exactly what he said as I have watched so many talks, but he must have been referring to ready made hot sauces you can buy on shelves; because I have no doubt they will contain all kinds of stuff either because they can or to preserve. Good to hear you are making your own.

(Chris Robertson) #8

He was specifically talking about capsaicin’s effect on insulin and blood sugar. It was less than a paragraph so he didn’t go into detail and I didn’t think much about it at the time.

(German Ketonian) #9

An intriguing question, this is! I think if blood sugars are lowered by consuming spices, I see two different reasons:

  1. Insulin is released, leading to reduced BG
  2. Spices also consist of fiber (think cinnamon and chilies), which lower the glycemic effect
(I came for the weight loss and stayed for my sanity... ) #10

:thinking: interesting point. But is the amount of fiber enough to cause a significant change? (unless you nosh on your cinnamon by the spoonful of course :wink: )

(German Ketonian) #11

That’s very difficult to say, I think and depends on many factors, including individual susceptibility and insulin sensivity. For me, I know that if I have fairly high amounts of fiber per meal (20-40g), my BG readings seem not to be affected. I stay at around 80 post-prandial all the time, not matter if I eat pure butter or an avocado salad (which is loaded with fiber).

(Aimee Moisa) #12

The spice must flow.

Sorry, I just had to. :slight_smile:

(Doug) #13

In some studies, cinnamon appears to lower blood sugar, but not in others. Broadly speaking, if a spice doesn’t have carbohydrates in it to mess up what many people on this forum are focusing on, and if a given person isn’t sensitive to it, doesnt have an allergic or otherwise bad reaction to it, then I think “spices are good.” One can get a huge variety of micronutrients from them.

Cinnamon has some polyphenols in it, which to me is a big plus - hard to find anything to object to, there. It also has cinnamaldehyde, which has immune system benefits, is antibacterial, and which even works against the formation of some cancers.

(Phil Maskell ) #14

Didn’t realise this, I add it to coffee in morning to try to reduce blood sugars, but other benefits are a bonus :smiley:

(Sharon) #15

A vote for ginger.