Journalist Alexa von Heyden struggled with energy dips and irritability until she began monitoring her blood sugar levels. Discovering the impact of glucose spikes on her mood, she adopted tips from biochemist Jessie Inchauspé’s book “The Glucose Trick.” While such dietary changes improved her well-being and energy, experts criticize the strong claims about glucose’s role in serious illnesses as pseudoscience, emphasizing that healthy individuals typically manage blood sugar fluctuations without adverse effects.
Around 3 or 4 p.m., journalist and influencer Alexa von Heyden often faced energy slumps. Whether it was coffee, soda, or snacks, nothing seemed to boost her productivity. “My mind felt foggy,” she explains, making work challenging. This irritability occasionally even affected her interactions with her young daughter.
About a year ago, the 45-year-old identified a possible cause for her struggles. Using a sensor attached to her upper arm, she began tracking her blood sugar fluctuations. This device, designed for continuous glucose monitoring, provides updates every five minutes on her glucose levels.
Her initial revelation came when she noticed that after enjoying her morning oat milk cappuccino and fruit juice, her blood sugar spiked dramatically, only to drop sharply shortly thereafter. Even her usual lunch salad couldn’t prevent the post-meal slump, and similar results followed with coffee and sweet snacks. This prompted her to implement some of Jessie Inchauspé’s nutritional strategies known as “hacks.”
The Effects of High Blood Sugar Levels
In her book “The Glucose Trick,” French biochemist Jessie Inchauspé offers guidance on avoiding the blood sugar rollercoaster. She argues that frequent high glucose spikes can lead to issues such as hunger pangs, mood swings, and even more serious conditions like dementia, depression, cancer, and heart disease if not managed effectively.
With these insights, Inchauspé has achieved international acclaim, landing on bestseller lists and amassing nearly five million followers on her Instagram account, where she promotes her ideas as the “Glucose Goddess.” Many followers have shared transformative experiences after adopting her strategies. However, consistently applying these techniques often requires significant dietary changes. Alexa now shuns sweets, cakes, and sugary foods, which are high in easily digestible carbs that cause rapid spikes in blood sugar levels.
In contrast, she now opts for more substantial breakfasts, such as a bowl of tomatoes, eggs, and avocado. These foods contain fats, proteins, and fibers that slow digestion and prevent quick spikes in blood sugar.
Instead of taking a glass of vinegar before meals—a recommendation from Inchauspé—Alexa prefers to take walks after eating. This practice is believed to help mitigate sugar spikes effectively.
This raises an important question: Is all this effort genuinely beneficial? Can these strategies improve overall wellness and ward off serious health issues like dementia or heart disease? Not everyone shares this perspective.
For instance, Christoph Stettler, the Director of the Bern University Clinic for Diabetology, critiques the underlying claims. While some studies hint at a link between fluctuating glucose levels and higher risks of heart disease and cancer, it’s crucial to note that these results could be interpreted differently.
Blood Sugar and Serious Health Issues
Individuals experiencing high blood sugar levels typically lead less healthy lifestyles overall. This can include consuming more unhealthy fats and calories, resulting in weight gain and physical inactivity. As a result, it’s challenging to pinpoint a single causal factor in such studies.
Similarly, linking specific foods to the development of neurological and psychological issues like depression or dementia proves complex. Paul Pfluger, head of the Department of Neurobiology of Diabetes at the Helmholtz Center Munich, explains that studies have shown correlations with various nutrients, emphasizing that multiple risk factors combine to create health issues.
Healthy Bodies Manage Blood Sugar Variations
A key point of contention is the definition of harmful glucose spikes. Inchauspé asserts that a non-diabetic should be concerned with any increase of over 30 mg/dl after eating, a claim nutrition expert Hans Hauner from the Technical University of Munich disputes. Such rises are often exceeded after typical meals in healthy individuals, with levels reaching 140 mg/dl after eating considered normal.
According to Pfluger, healthy bodies are well-adapted to process glucose. When blood sugar levels rise, the pancreas produces insulin to facilitate sugar absorption into cells. High levels post-meal pose risks only when the body struggles to regulate sugar metabolism due to insulin resistance, often stemming from obesity.
When insulin resistance develops, it may progress to type 2 diabetes, marked by consistently elevated blood sugar levels. Stettler notes that while extreme fluctuations are detrimental for diabetics, healthy individuals are generally unaffected by such variations.
Caution Against Pseudoscience
François Jornayvaz has critically analyzed Inchauspé’s work and labels it as pseudoscience. He argues that she misleads the public into thinking they can achieve better health through her methods. Upon reviewing the studies she cites