Does Eating Refined Sugar Cause Mid-Afternoon Energy Dip
“When you eat refined sugar, your glucose levels spike rapidly. This habit supports a quick energy burst for your cells' fuel. Your pancreas releases insulin to manage the flood. It works so fast that your blood sugar levels eventually drop below normal. This dip helps explain that mid-afternoon fog. Your body is a masterpiece; supporting it with fiber helps keep energy steady. Enjoy!”
Summary
Consuming refined sugar leads to a rapid increase in blood glucose and a swift insulin release, providing a quick energy boost. In certain people this insulin surge can cause a post‑meal drop in glucose (reactive hypoglycemia) that may produce mid‑afternoon sluggishness, but it is not a universal response. Including fiber slows sugar absorption and helps keep blood‑sugar levels more stable.
Sources 59 searched
- Sugars and blood glucose control - PubMed
Rapidly absorbed carbohydrates, which produce large blood glucose and insulin responses, may be in the form of both sugars and starches. Sugars added to foods have no different effect on blood glucose from those of sugars alone.
- Reactive hypoglycemia
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- 10 Surprising Things That Can Spike Your Blood Sugar | Diabetes | CDC
Find out about 10 triggers that could cause your blood sugar to surge.
- A review of recent evidence relating to sugars, insulin resistance and diabetes - PMC
The combined sugars intakes equated to approximately 25% of total energy intake. There were no significant changes in fasting and postprandial indices of insulin resistance, or fasting blood lipids with either treatment, or any difference in response between subjects who were overweight compared ...
- Added Sugars Drive Insulin Resistance, Hyperinsulinemia, Hypertension, Type 2 Diabetes and Coronary Heart Disease - PMC
Salt–sensitive hypertensive patients ... in insulin sensitivity via weight loss and exercise decrease salt sensitivity.35 Whatever dietary substance causes hyperinsulinemia leads to sodium and fluid retention and elevated blood pressure. It turns out that the chief dietary culprit driving hypertension may not be salt, but the other white crystal, sugar.16, 36–41 Lowering the intake of refined sugars may ...
- Postprandial Reactive Hypoglycemia - PMC - NIH
Diagnose of hypoglycemia requires blood sugar to be 55 mg/dL or less. However, symptoms of hypoglycaemia can be seen without decreasing blood sugar to 55 mg/dl, which is called postprandial syndrome. Lupoli et al. Suggests that GLP-1 may be involved in the pathogenesis of idiopathic reactive hypoglycemia without prediabetes.
- Dietary Sugar Intake and Incident Type 2 Diabetes Risk: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies - ScienceDirect
The dose-response relationship between dietary sugar and type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk is uncertain. MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science and Cochrane…
- Non-Diabetic Hypoglycemia - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf - NIH
Patients should be advised to avoid foods rich in sugar and avoid alcohol and caffeine. Treatment of non-diabetic hypoglycemia depends on causative factors. Drugs causing hypoglycemia need to be discontinued. Reactive hypoglycemia post gastric bypass is controlled by dietary modification (low glycemic index diet) and acarbose (an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor).
- Common Causes of Blood Sugar Spikes - Diabetes
But if the glucose builds up in your bloodstream — either because there's more than your body needs for fuel, or your pancreas doesn't make insulin — it causes a blood sugar spike, followed by a sugar crash.
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