And they whirl and they twirl and they tango

Infrequently updated, uninteresting blather.

Sunday, August 27, 2006


Baby Buggus

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Sugar High Myth

I just wrote this email to my friend Salty. It might be useful for those of you who either a) believe that there is such a thing as a "sugar high" or b) need artillery for your verbal shoot-outs with people who still believe in it. You are also welcome to go here for more info.

My dear Salty,

It was good to see you here, as well....You had expected, of course, that your pathetic attempt to debunk the"sugar high myth" would enrage me and force me to respond. So be it. Let's begin with glucose. There are many types of sugars: sucrose, fructose, maltose, galactose, dextrose, etc. However, your body only uses one type of sugar, and that is glucose. No matter what other kinds of sugar you put in your body, be it fructose from an apple or sucrose from pouring table sugar directly down your throat, it all ends up broken down to glucose by the time it gives your cells energy. This is important: there is nothing that actually gives your body energy except glucose. Are we clear? Good.

Therefore, measuring the amount of energy that any type of food provides would refer you to the glycemic index of a food, i.e. how much glucose does it provide your body? A related question that you raise is how quickly does the food provide glucose to the system? The foods with the highest glycemic index are foods like grain cereals. A box of Corn Flakes, for example, would provide a glycemic index of about 90 (out of a 100), whereas a sucrose-heavy candy bar like a Snickers would come in at about 40. It seems if there were any sort of sugar high, it would be a "Corn Flakes" high. If young children behaved at breakfast the way people believe they behave at the candy store, I might buy it. The truth is, children (and adults, for that matter) are made to believe that sugar gives them a high, when in fact the high comes from other factors, such as the caffeine in chocolate or soda, or the mere excitement of the occasions surrounding sucrose-heavy intakes: birthday parties, Easter egg hunts, etc.

Now, does sucrose get converted to glucose faster than other sugars? In fact, yes. However, scientists see no reason why the fact that the human body has glucose in the bloodstream faster after eating sweets means a person feels any "higher" after the slower, but more powerful glycemic index of complex carbohydrates. If sugar in your bloodstream really does give you a high, in other words, Corn Flakes would be the thing to provide it, even though it took a while to get your blood sugar up to 90. If this doesn't convince you, consider this: the sugars in juice are absorbed more quickly by the body than the sugars found in junk food, and they have a higher glycemic index to boot. Give someone a glass of orange juice and tell me whether or not he/she starts bouncing off the walls, because according to your science, that would have to be the case.