Using ketone meter to test insulin response to sugar substitutes?


#1

You know how Dr. Jason Fung and some others say sugar substitutes (artificial or natural) cause significant insulin spikes, in some cases as bad as real sugar?

Wouldn’t the ketone meter work as a way to test this theory? Find your best time of day where you are in strong ketosis, for me it is like 10 PM or so, 6 hours after my last meal. Take a reading before, then a while after consuming say a large amount of the sugar substitute, check your BHB blood ketones again, to see if you are in a lower state of ketosis?


(Full Metal KETO AF) #2

I’m unclear about this. Does insulin reduce ketones already present in the blood? It was my impression that it just slows down production of new ketones. Is that what you would be judging by? I think there could be many factors influencing ketone levels. They fluctuate rapidly if I understand it correctly. Just doing something like moving a heavy object across the room can lower the levels. :cowboy_hat_face:


(Bob M) #3

It wouldn’t work. You have (at least) two competing hormones: insulin and glucagon. You could get an insulin rise from artificial sugar but no blood sugar change, if glucagon counteracts the rise in insulin.

And ketones are fairly variable (and the testing equipment is not accurate). Furthermore, I’ve testing myself with massive amounts of protein, which I know has an insulin response, and there is no change in ketones that I could determine.


#4

Ya know the only time consume sweet stuff (stevia/pyure) is when I am snacking… it never goes with one of my meals. I am trying to get away from snacky stuff: nuts, sweet fat bombs, cured meats, even coffee – I can’t seem to quit eating them even when in ketosos… I don’t fill up on them. I feel full and totally satiated when I dont’ snack. I seem to do best just drinking water alone and eating 2 meals a day without any snacking.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #5

The only way to measure an insulin spike is by testing your blood glucose just before eating the sweetener and then periodically for several hours afterward. (You will need to refrain from eating any other food during the time of the experiment.) If there is a significant drop in blood glucose, then it can reasonably be inferred that there was a spike in insulin level.

While a sufficiently high insulin level inhibits the liver from producing ketone bodies, it does nothing to the ketones already circulating in the bloodstream, and the levels of said ketone bodies vary so greatly throughout the day as to rob the variations of significance for this purpose.