Introduction Peaks in blood glucose (or “blood sugar spikes”) are commonly highlighted as something harmful to health. And, of course, an excessively high blood glucose response to a meal can be problematic, or at least indicate there is a problem. However, elevations in blood glucose after eating are a normal physiological response. And “bad” blood glucose responses are those that stay high for a prolonged period; i.e. after elevating, they don’t return to normal within an appropriate period of time. But now many normoglycemic people are worrying about normal blood glucose responses, due to information that portrays even moderate elevations …
SNP18: What is a Healthy Low-Carb Diet?
In this episode, Danny discusses what health outcomes may result from low-carb diets, and what distinguishes a “healthy low-carb diet” from an “unhealthy low-carb diet”. This includes some pragmatic tips for nutritionists, health professionals and consumers, who are choosing to use a low-carbohydrate diet.
#480: How Much Fiber Do We Need for Good Health? – Prof. Joanne Slavin
How much fiber do we actually need? What are current fiber recommendations based on? What outcomes have the strongest evidence for benefit? Should we have targets for fiber sub-types? Are some types of fiber “better” than others? Do functional fibers added to food products still retain the benefits we see with dietary fiber?
#476: Fructose in Perspective – Dietary Villain or Misunderstood Nutrient?
In this episode we discuss the unique aspects of fructose metabolism, why some studies appear to show unique harm of fructose, and the implications of this for dietary choices.
#468: High Sugar Intakes Without Excess Calories: Harmful or Benign?
In a situation where someone is not overconsuming calories or gaining weight, what health impacts do added sugars have?
#434: Is a Vegan Diet Really Best for Diabetes?
Many different diets have been put forward as solutions that treat type 2 diabetes. Some will claim the diet “reverses” diabetes, some say it puts it into “remission”, while others more conservatively recommend a diet to manage diabetes symptoms in a healthy way.
There has been some debate on the use of terms like reversal, cure or resolution. And recently more clarity has been found in defining each.
One of the diets that has been recommended by some for the purposes of “reversing” or treating diabetes is a low-fat, whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet. Specifically, there is a claim that it is superior to other diets in treating diabetes. Some of these claims relate to popular online diet & lifestyle programs that use such a diet. While there is also a number of studies that are commonly cited in support of the claims.
In this episode, we evaluate these claims by looking at the published research in this area, across epidemiology, human intervention trials and mechanistic rationale. We also ponder what it means for something to be the “best” diet to treat a chronic disease.
#429: Kevin Hall, PhD & Stephan Guyenet, PhD – Carbohydrate-Insulin Model vs. Energy Balance Model
The pathogenesis of obesity is clearly complex. And the need to have a comprehensive model to explain this pathogenesis is important. One such model, termed the Energy Balance Model, has largely been the consensus paradigm of obesity scientists to this point. However, there are others who propose that this is not the correct model of obesity, but rather that obesity pathogenesis can be better explained by a model called the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model (CIM) of obesity.
#385: Insulin Resistance & Diet
In this episode we explore the causes of insulin resistance, and the dietary modifications that may help those with insulin resistance.