ZipFixx Experiment

(Patrick B.) #1

So I was curious about an energy drink powder that I like, wondering if it spiked my sugar. It says it’s zero carbs but I discovered it has Xylitol and Sucralose in it. I’ve never used either other than Zipfizz, which has a metric shit ton of vitamins in it. (41,000% B12!!!, yes… I know… I’m peeing it out).

I think one of the sugar alcohols is spiking my blood but I’m really not sure.

17:56 91 mg/dl
18:28 109 mg/dl
18:56 97 mg/dl

I have sucrolose in pure form so I am going to test that tomorrow.

Would you call that a spike? I haven’t had anything since 13:00…

#2

Personally, I’ve not had any issues with sucralose. My two cents.

(Patrick B.) #3

But Carl and Richard both say that it is an individual thing… @Carl can only use Xylitol and I think @Richard uses Erythritol.

(carl) #4

I can tolerate a little Swerve (Erythritol). @richard uses sucralose

(Tom) #5

I go through zipfizz like it’s going out of style and while I haven’t tracked my blood glucose, it doesn’t seem to be causing me any issues with stalling my weight loss.

(Patrick B.) #6

Update: I did a teaspoon of sucralose in a glass of water and here are the results…

17:52 79 mg/dl
18:24 94 mg/dl
18:58 90 mg/dl

I’ll have to get some xylitol and try that as well…

#7

Just injecting that last week I tested my blood glucose 3 times within 3 minutes in 2 different fingers with the same meter and every one was different and all were +/- 10 of each other so for my meter those results would unfortunately fall within the margin of error.

Given my meter, if I were testing, I would probably have to test at least 3 times per session, take the average and then compare the averages.

I could say that this was just my meter, but I’ve had the same results with other meters in the past. :frowning2:

(Patrick B.) #8

Well okay then… I will attempt again after my fast…

(Patrick B.) #9

So I feel like I blew my carbs last night (58g net!) and my fast isn’t going well today (I am so hungry) so I’ve decided to not start the 3-day fast (last meal being last night and I do IF22 anyway) and I’m going to run the experiment again today.

I’ve taken 3 measurements (81, 81, 76) using a different finger… I may have screwed up in that I didn’t change the lancet? I have an average of 79.3 mg/dl and I’ve just ingested 1 tbsp of sucralose with 12 oz of water. I’ll let ya know in 30 minutes!

#10

Your previous post was 1 teaspoon and this one references 1 tablespoon, is that correct? Is this a powder or a liquid?

Is this 100% pure sucralose or is there likely to be some filler in it such as maltodextrin or dextrose?

I’m intrigued and going to do my own measurement later this evening, but I’m going to use the liquid Splenda brand name since I have it on the shelf.

Good luck and anxious to see your results. :smiley:

(Patrick B.) #11

Excellent observation! I decided to go for broke and use 1 tbsp. I grew concerned that maybe 1 tsp wasn’t enough to make a change… 1 tbsp will if it’s going to!!!

Also great question! It is a powder and does have a filler of maltodextrin. Bah!

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[quote=“BillJay, post:10, topic:8691”]
I’m intrigued and going to do my own measurement later this evening, but I’m going to use the liquid Splenda brand name since I have it on the shelf.
[/quote]

I’m anxious to see your’s as well!

(Patrick B.) #12

30 minutes are up!

91
86
92

89.67

Up 10 points from baseline avg… Is 10 points a spike? And if it is, is it insignificant? I’m not diabetic so I’m really not sure how big a deal 10 pts is.

(Patrick B.) #13

And 60 minutes…

85
82
82

83 mg/dl average

I’m done poking my fingers tonight…

(Richard Morris) #14

10 pts is not a big deal, but I would say it is significant. In other words if you repeat that experiment you would I believe see a similar result. That is, I reckon, the effect of the small amount of maltodextrin flake that the sucralose is sprayed upon.

For most people that small amount of glucose used to give the product the same sweetness to volume as sugar (ie: 1 cup of splenda = 1 cup of sugar) is a convenience that is worth the small glycemic impact. For me I use PURE sucralose which is 600x sweeter than sucrose and I have to use stupidly small spoons that go down to 1/128th of a teaspoon in order to dose accurately.

https://www.amazon.com/Norpro-Stainless-Measuring-Spoons-smidgen/dp/B0009X1P9S

So for example to make a batch of ice cream, I use 6 egg yolks, 600ml (pint) of heacvy cream, and a smidgen spoon full of pure sucralose (1 smidgen = 1/64th of a teaspoon).

#15

I finally made it to a point in time where my blood glucose shouldn’t be changing for any reason other than the substance being tested.

I’m using liquid Splenda Zero that contains Water, Sucralose, Malic Acid, Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate where the active ingredient should just be the Sucralose with no carbohydrate confounders like maltodextrin.

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I used an electronic scale to add 4 servings (1.0 mL) of the liquid sweetener to 275 mL of reverse osmosis filtered water and measured my blood glucose twice at 0, 30 and 60 minutes in 3 different fingers on my left hand; blood glucose is reported in mg/dL.

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The average blood glucose went from 113.5 before ingestion to 108.5 at 30 minutes and then down to 104.7 at 60 minutes, but looking at the wide variations in the chart, I’m not 100% confident in the results even though the general trend is downwards, so it looks like the liquid Splenda caused an insulin response that lowered my blood glucose.

Interestingly, my blood ketones went from 0.8 mmol to 2.1 mmol in 60 minutes - not sure about that other than the liver detecting a decline in blood glucose without any dietary glucose and deciding to ramp up ketone production.

I’m going to have to repeat this experiment again.

If this is reproducible, could this be a way to encourage ketogenesis while already in a ketogenic state? Has anyone else seen something similar? @richard? @Faitmaker?

Sweeteners!
Keto sense
Home Meter Accuracy
(Richard Morris) #16

My glucometer has a published accuracy rate of 3.8%.

The changes you observed in your mean values are 5% from 113.5 - 108.5 and then 3.8% from 108.5 to 104.7. Normally I would say the first drop is significant but small, and the second not-significantly lower than the first … but your underlying results are so variable testing twice in 3 locations. You are getting a greater variability in different measurements at the same time point (26-28 mg/dl) than you are tracking your glucose over time (8.8 mg/dl) so I really don’t know how to analyze your results, sorry.

But lets say we take your mean values on their face. Your observation could be explained by a response to sweet foods in the mouth triggering your hypothalamus to stimulate your pancreas to get ready … and that small amount of insulin secreted as the pancreas was bracing for impact, lowered your glucose and then the sweet food never arrived so now your liver kicked into action to replenish glucose in your blood … and that process causes you to make ketones (as you speculated, and observed).

#17

Perfect, that’s exactly the kind of objectivity and analysis I was looking for and I agree that the results are somewhat inconclusive because the underlying readings are just too inconsistent.

So, taking the BG mean values despite the variability of the individual readings within the sample set being large, the drops in the mean at subsequent times don’t seem to be enough to infer an insuligenic effect from the sucralose itself, but are more in line with the cephalic release of insulin, ie. “a response to sweet foods in the mouth triggering your hypothalamus to stimulate your pancreas to get ready” that could just as easily be caused by any sweetener.

I’ve been considering a new meter and this would be a good reason to get one as well as include the accuracy rate of the meter into the spreadsheet.

Artificial sweeteners on a fast?
(What The Fast?!) #18

So excited to hear this! I’ve been trying to figure out if I can drink ZipFizz and/or Nuun. ZipFizz ingredients shows glucogen polymers (or something like that), so I didn’t know if that was kosher, so to speak.