Splenda Glycemic Index And Relation With Insulin?

by Ana

QUESTION: Is it true that splenda glycemic index is high? Does it really cause blood glucose to reach the peak quickly?

What about the effects on insulin in diabetics?

Thank you.

ANSWER: Hi there,

First of all, Splenda is an artificial sweetener, composed of sucralose, dextrose and maltodextrin. Although sucralose is sweet, it is not a sugar.

The truth is that Splenda has really high glycemic index due to its components dextrose and maltodextrin, which are sugars in fact.

This is bad for the organism, because large store of sugars comes in the organism, leading to weight gain and uncontrolled diabetes.

However, if the person is not suffering from diabetes, he could handle such great load of glucose.

In addition, this load will not cause such elevation in the blood glucose concentration, because the organism has normal insulin secretion.

You have to know that every substance, which contains a lot of sugar increases the insulin secretion. In this case, Splenda increases the insulin secretion and this is a physiological function.

When certain amount of glucose enters the organism, in response, the body elevates the insulin secretion in purpose to use the sugars.

Besides this, the higher the glucose load, the larger the insulin secretion will be.

However, the situation is different, when a person with diabetes uses Splenda. When such person uses it, large amount of sugar enters the organism, but there is no insulin secretion, which can put it inside the cells.

This leads to elevated blood glucose concentration, which can be very dangerous. As you probably know, the elevated blood glucose concentration leads to damages of the eye, the kidney and other organs.

Other thing is that the elevation of the blood glucose level depends on

the amount of Splenda you use. If you use small amount of it, such great elevations are not going to be observed.

Besides this, if you are taking insulin, or pill for diabetes, right after the usage of Splenda, such problems are not going to be observed.

Because of this, you have to adjust the usage of Splenda according to your diabetes treatment. In this way, you are going to prevent all the possible problems, which may happen to you.

In addition, it would be better for you to measure your blood glucose level several times a day, in purpose to know if the consumption of Splenda causes your problems with the blood sugar control.

If you notice such thing, you are obligated to stop using it immediately.

My last comment is regarding the safety and how hazardous using Splenda is. As it is an artificial sweetener, it is made of many chloride molecules linked to the sugar molecule (otherwise called sucralose).

As you may imagine, when you consume Splenda, you are also consuming heavy metals, chloride, etc, which are very hazardous to our organism although limited studies.

Therefore, think twice before deciding to use it.

Hope it helped! All the best!

Dr.Alba
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