I always find it confusing when I read things like:
“Protein slows insulin levels, which you want to keep in balance to avoid weight gain.”
I find it confusing for two reasons.
1) I’m really not sure how you can ‘slow’ a level
2) I’m really not sure how they define ‘balance’.
Honestly I really dislike vague terms..especially when applied to science.
What I do know is that from the research conducted on sports supplements we know for sure that a protein/carb meal can have just as big an effect on insulin as a carb only meal. And, that as long as you are eating your insulin levels are going to go up and down…
Watch the Video for more details:
BP
Tags: Insulin, Protein, Weight loss
This entry was posted by Brad Pilon on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 6:45 pm and is filed under
Weight Loss Science
Very interesting vid, Brad. What if one eats a meal (or two) containing no carbs, just protein? Would it have a similar spike? Or is the spike due to certain amount of carbs?
Hi Mark,
There would be some sort of insulin spike, I’ll see if I can find some actual numbers for another video.
BP
What about meals with just fat or fat/protein & no carbs? Would the insulin spike be as high? Or would you even get an insulin spike?
From the work of Nutall et al published in 1984 and again in 1985, it looks like the insulin response to 50 g of protein is roughly equal to that of 50 g of carbohydrate.
BP
NOTE: This doesn’t mean that protein is bad in anyway, it just points out some incorrect nutrition marketing.
Bottom line is that carbs and protein need insulin to be processed properly.
The inclusion of fat, or the types of protein or carbs may effect the length or degree of the insulin spike, but the spike will always be there.
BP
Brad,
This is a great video – I’d always heard people quote the “research” which stated that eating protein with carbs every three hours would keep your insulin levels consistent and lower.
It makes you wonder how so many people can push these notions when the scientific research just isn’t supporting it. Thanks
Nice video, Brad, got me thinking.
Now my question is then: what does this mean and how would/should affect the way we eat?
We’ve all been told to keep the insulin spikes at a minimum, but with this information, especially for those like me who eat in 2-3 hours intervals, it means we have a constant high level of insulin. Just like you said.
Now, in my experience, I’ve had some great progress, both in weight loss and muscle gain. It makes me question how important this really is. I guess it depends on the goals of each person? Or on how lean/big you want to get?
Ultimately, considering this information, we should stop eating if we want to keep the high levels of insulin through out the day. Which I know you promote, sort of, in your program.
Final question, is it really worth it to focus that much on insulin levels after all?
Thanks again for this valuable information.
Informative and the information present is sorely needed amongst many. Thanks for the video.
Here’s the most thorough paper I know of on insulin response to various foods: “An Insulin Index of Foods: The Insulin Demand Generated by 1000-kJ Portions of Common Foods”.
This is the same research group that originally developed the glycemic index; the cited paper was working toward defining a similar “insulin index”.
Note a complication: while dietary protein and carbs both trigger a major insulin response, protein (but not carbs) also triggers a rise in glucagon, which is antagonistic to insulin in several respects (for example, while insulin inhibits lipolysis, glucagon encourages lipolysis).
For this reason (i.e., increased glucagon too), a rise in insulin due to dietary protein may have different overall effects than a rise due to dietary carbs.
But let yourself go hungry at times, and there’s no reason to worry about any of it
I think that quote would be better written as
“Protein slows increases in insulin levels, which you want to keep in balance to avoid weight gain.”
to be less confusing. Using the word balance isn’t very good as your body release insulin so your blood glucose levels stays ‘in blance’. Insulin up means bloos sugar down.
An unrelated question:
I know your feelings about most supplements. What do you think about Tribulus Terrestris Extract? Any effect on Testosterone levels?
Thanks!
Hi Fernando,
Great comments, and No, I think people are missing a lot of valuable data by only concentrating on insulin.
I’ll do another video about GH soon.
BP
Hi Dan,
The problem with even using the word “slows” is that it is still not accurate.
I think for the most part, people use vague terms when the science is actually wrong, but they can’t be bothered to look it up.
BP
I read this and my first thought was, “Ah, so all that stuff about Paleo and ketogenic diets reducing insulin must be rubbish. Funny what gets propagated on the internet.” Then I went about my daily routine, and later, out of nowhere, I wondered, “But if that’s true, how can people recommend those diets? Why is there a glycemic index for foods if they all have the same insulin response? Why can diabetics eat certain foods but not others?”
I’m not being snarky; I’m just confused.
Hi David,
Glycemic Index is VERY different than measuring insulin release. Glycemia is the amount of sugar in your blood..the graph I showed was of Insulin in the blood.
Diabetics are very different from normal people in how their bodies regulate glucose and insulin release (that’s the nature of their disease)..so what applies to a diabetic doesn’t necessarily apply to a non-diabetic..and vice versa.
I hope this helps,
BP
Hi Brad,
Your video got me thinking about peaks and valleys, not just in insulin but in blood sugar as well. Isn’t the goal for healthy people and diabetics alike to maintain as steady blood sugar levels as possible? Sudden drop in blood sugar can lead to energy loss and cravings whereas steady levels maintain high (or at least constant) energy throughout the day. Since the insulin response closely follows food intake, it would make sense that frequent small meals causing a mildly undulating insulin response were superior to larger infrequent meals causing sudden steep peaks. Now, the overall insulin levels may still be on the high side but what would be an ideal meal then if whatever one eats skyrockets the insulin? Fully recognizing the value of fasting, but here we are talking about the days that one does eat.
Hi Paula,
You are right, however, I’m not sure if I agree that the best way to keep insulin from rising and falling is to simply keep it high all the time.
When it comes to insulin I think it would be valuable to consider an old quote from Pericles “The dose makes the poison”…meaning the most practical way to keeping insulin ‘in-check’ would simply to avoid overeating.
BP
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