When you use an artificial sweetener, your body is expecting sugar calories. But there aren’t any – it’s false advertising. This deceit leads to insulin resistance.
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How artificial sweeteners contribute to insulin resistance
When you use an artificial sweetener, your body is expecting sugar calories. But there aren’t any – it’s false advertising. This deceit leads to insulin resistance
Insulin resistance is at the root of metabolic problems. Things go awry, when cells that are meant to respond to insulin, don’t.
Now, this in and of its self is a little odd.
Food for Africa
There are few situations where NICE food is rejected.
Granted, sometimes when you are FULL to capacity, you may reluctantly, decline MORE food. But, you have to be SERIOUSLY full, to do this. And, there is always PLAN B.
Store it, for later.
So that insulin resistant cells, turn up their noses at FOOD, is a little odd.
Food processing is tricky business
But, if accepting that delivery is going to cause a crisis, it is clearly the right thing to do.
After all, burning sugar is a messy business.
The process creates reactive oxygen species, that true to their name, REACT.
And these REACTIONS can leave a lot of destruction in their wake.
Saying NO thanks
So being insulin resistant is a defensive move….
Knowing when to say NO, is healthful.
For the cell at least.
However, leaving the glucose on the outside, is rather problematic, for the blood vessels. Lol !
But is it that simple ?
A working muscle NEEDS fuel.
Not being fueled up, will leave the average muscle – “pap” and listless.
And this is what happens, in the insulin resistant. The muscles are often too tired to move ! So, why do cells CHOOSE to ignore the arrival of the body’s equivalent of Santa Claus ?
Could it be, because they’re SICK OF THE HYPE ?
A group of Indian researchers have demonstrated, that cells in the lab, are definitely turned off, by too much Christmas.
Christmas for lab cells
Since cells don’t actually celebrate Christmas, it took a little bit of imagination to simulate it.
They started off with Chinese hamster ovary cells which have undergone a little engineering, so that they had the all important insulin stimulated glucose gate (GLUT4). The gate was a glow in the dark gate, which allowed the researchers to see it.
The team was particularly interested in tracking the whereabouts of the glucose gate.
Insulin IN THE HOUSE
Under normal circumstances, the glucose gates are buried deep within the cell.
But, when insulin knocks on the door, announcing that he has a sugar delivery. There is a mad scramble to move the gate to the outside.
The gate is inserted into the cell’s perimeter fence .
Once it is docked and fused, the cell can proceed to accept the sugar delivery. It is all very civilized.
NOTE : In the insulin resistant, the arrival of the gate is held up. This interferes with the sugar deliveries, creating sugar troubles.
But, what happens when he arrives, without gifts ? This is what the team simulated….
When Father Christmas is empty handed
They did this, but manipulating the living conditions of the lab cells.
Four scenarios were created……
- Cells either received nothing (sugar levels were set at 6.5 mM) or received a sugar gift (sugar level was set at 20 mM)
- Sometimes Father Christmas (insulin) delivered the sugar gift, sometimes Father Christmas came empty handed.
The laboratory Christmas season lasted 10 cell cycles…….and then Christmas was cancelled.
The cells were put into ordinary medium for a few hours.
Opening the presents
And then an insulin response assay was performed on all of the cells. To gauge the response, the whereabouts of the glucose gate was carefully tracked.
Only one group of cells failed to respond to insulin.
No the non-responders were not those subject to HIGH sugar levels.
They responded quite normally, despite being awash in sugar.
Kinda blows the theory, the cells are shutting up shop, because they are TOO FULL !
The non-responders were the cells that had been continuously short changed by insulin.
Insulin promised gifts, but failed to deliver !
Cells don’t like false advertising
No one does. Remember the story of the boy who cried wolf ?
If a hard working muscle cell, is continually woken up in the middle of the night, expecting a sugar delivery and NOTHING happens.
The muscle is going to be upset.
Becoming “insulin resistant” is an easy way to SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
The advertising bureau of standards
When does false advertising happen ?
Every time you use an artificial sweetener. Receptors in the tongue and elsewhere in the gut, detect the sugar. They’re excited and they tell EVERYONE. Insulin is dispatched…………….. so the groceries can be put away.
But, there are NO groceries.
It was false advertising.
Be cautious, artificial sweeteners may be calorie free, but they do have consequences. Visit the Artificial Sweetener Library Page to learn more.
NOTE : I do think they have a place, especially if you are metabolically challenged, so the advice is not to ditch them completely, just watch how you use them. If you’re using them to lower the carb count of dinner, you’re sending them in, WITH calories. So it’s not FALSE ADVERTISING per se. If you’re sipping on a “Diet” cold drink in the middle of the day, and not eating anything, this is FALSE ADVERTISING.
Further reading
It’s time diabetics stop seeing insulin as a knight in shining armour
SUGAR is the enemy and INSULIN is the saviour. The “success” of bariatric surgery, as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, is forcing a re-think of the story.
Metabolic syndrome begins when insulin isn’t removed efficiently
Slower insulin removal results in more insulin entering the circulation. Since more insulin is getting up to mischief, this leads to metabolic mayhem….
You want LESS insulin, NOT MORE, if you have type 2 diabetes
Normal mice, fed a normal diet but given, EXCESS insulin, develop type 2 diabetes. More insulin is NOT the cure for type 2 diabetes.