Comments on: Reader Response: Insulin Index

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:09:15 +0000

FYI, there have been several studies done on dairy and I suggest you guys to check them out. The studies indicated that milk does, in fact, raise insulin but it doesn’t raise your blood sugar from the glucose.

That being said, it is not possible for the glucose’s presence in the blood stream to cause the high secretion of insulin. My assumption would also be similar to the author here in that the levels of amino acids from the milk caused the spike in insulin.

By: Mark Sisson

Mark Sisson — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:16:24 +0000

Russ, great reply to Jimmy’s question. My jury is still out on dairy.

By: Russ

Russ — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:35:03 +0000

Jimmmy:
There are many explations for the insulinogenic nature of milk. Here are some ideas for you:

1) Lactose is converted to galactose (a blood sugar similar to glucose) which causes insulin spikes just like glucose.

2) Protein also causes a lesser insulin response so the whey protein is certainly a contributing factor. Casein protein (also found in milk) causes a very low response because it takes a long time to digest. I remember reading that casein protein doesn’t always digest fully and might even cause health problems because of this.

Other things to think about when it comes to milk are:
The chemicals/hormones injected into most cattle to increase size and production of milk (specifically Insulin-like Growth Factor I (IgF-I) which is used by scientists to grow cancer cells, and an abundance in the body is not a good thing.) For more on these see: http://www.notmilk.com and/or google: Milk – The Deadly Poison by Robert Cohen.

Plus, cow milk is for calves, nature never meant it for human consumption so if you want to be strict Paleo/Primal then limiting intake might be a good idea.

To answer your question about blood sugar spikes and health. The short answer is: yes, it does matter (if your goal is health and longevity) to minimise insulin spikes. The long (very long) answer can be found here: http://drbass.com/rosedale2.html it’s a great article!

Hope that all helps!!! I’m currently researching the hormonal systems etc. of metabolism so it might not be perferct but at least it’s fresh in my mind!

Russ

By: jimmy

jimmy — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:34:18 +0000

Researchers tell us that milk is insulinogenic. That is, it causes an insulin spike that cannot be explained merely by its concentration of carbs. Some people attribute this to the whey protein. But what does this all this mean for health? Is this good or bad? I have heard that it can be helpful for diabetics to prevent blood sugar spikes. What about everybody else? And what if you drink milk without any additional carbs, wouldn’t that theoretically cause short-term low blood sugar? And finally, I’m curious to find out how milk compares with milk-derived products, like cottage cheese (which I love) and yoghurt. Cottage cheese, for example, has almost no carbs (especially lactose), but I assume it still has whey protein.

By: Reader Pete

Reader Pete — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 01:13:21 +0000

Mark-
Belated thanks for this post. Interesting stuff. It looks like acute insulin spikes are probably not as detrimental as chronic ones, and happen for different reasons.

By: Mark Sisson

Mark Sisson — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:07:25 +0000

Marc,

The people who did the insulin index only tried it on a few foods. Whey powder wasn’t one, so we don’t know if it causes a spike. If it did, it probably wouldn’t by itself promote fat storage.

By: marc s.

marc s. — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:22:44 +0000

Does whey protein isolate powder, one without any carbs, cause an insulin spike? If so, does the rise in blood sugar give way to any excess protein consumed being converted to fat for storage? Thanks for the help.

By: Mark Sisson

Mark Sisson — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:44:05 +0000

Kady and Arthur,

Interestingly, we know that higher fat mitigates the insulin response, so a high fat/high protein meal will likely elicit a lower insulin response than just high protein. It was the “trimmed beef” tested alone and the almost-non-fat fish that had the relatively higher insulin responses among the high protein groups. I think this all falls in line with the Primal Blueprint.

By: Mark L.

Mark L. — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:56:31 +0000

If protein creates a large insulin response, it gets kind of complicated to understand how to maximize the natural release of growth hormone. Exercise (especially anaerobic exercise) stimulates an extra release of growth hormone. I am among many exercisers who try to eat some protein right after exercising to take advantage of a “window of opportunity” to replenish muscles and to minimize muscle soreness; and some research has shown that eating protein stimulates an extra release of growth hormone. Insulin supposedly dampens the release of growth hormone so many people advise against eating carbs right after exercising. I plan to continue to eat unflavored whey protein after exercising, but this news make me wonder.

By: Arthur

Arthur — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:29:17 +0000

What I would really like to find out is whether eating fat really corresponds into storage as fat.

From what I gather – eating protein and fat help to repair the body as the body is essentially made up as amino acids and fatty acids.

Carbs (glycogen) is actually used by the body as fuel. So, if you eat excess carbs, then you store it as fat. But apparently if you eat fat, unless you eat more than your caloric expenditure, you don’t store it as fat, because fat is used by the body for structural and repair reasons…

I wish someone would explain once and for all what happens to fat when you eat it!