In the nine months since my diagnosis, I've been reading quite widely and have come up with a hypothesis which suggests that artificial sweeteners are, if anything, even more dangerous than sugar from our point of view. I lay no claim to being a biochemist or doctor, so I accept that my ideas may be wide of the mark, but I still think the forum might find them "food for thought"!
Ok, here goes:
Ok, here goes:
- The initial phase one insulin release is triggered by a sweet taste in the month. This doesn't have to be sugar, anything, even - or especially - an artificial sweetener will do nicely.
- This release of insulin will reduce the level of blood glucose and if the level is already on the low side, will result in a degree of hypoglycaemia which the body will handle by sending out "I'm hungry" signals, tempting us to eat just a bit more.
- This "incidental side effect" suits the marketing boys down to the ground but has implications for everyone, especially (in my view) type 2 diabetics.
- Non Diabetics: If you've got a fully functional pancreas, wasting a little insulin isn't something you'll worry about.
- Type 1 Diabetics: If you've got a completely dysfunctional pancreas, no insulin is produced, so again no real harm done.
- Type 2 Diabetics: You've got some beta cells but making them produce more insulin than necessary is generally recognised as a bad idea as it pushes them closer to total failure and you towards the need for medication to compensate - (Oh! wait a minute - that might be the idea!)