Breads, rice, pasta, potatoes and sweets are often blamed for raising your blood sugar levels because of their high carbohydrate content. If you have diabetes, reactive hypoglycemia or simply keep an eye on your blood sugar levels to prevent health problems, you have probably noticed that the more carbohydrates you eat, the higher your blood sugar levels rise. Protein can also influence your blood sugar levels but only if you consume it in large amounts, and the rise in your blood sugar levels can only be seen after four to six hours. Fat plays the smallest role in your blood sugar levels.
Fat and Blood Sugar Levels
Fat is the nutrient that has the smallest impact in raising your blood sugar levels after a meal. While excess protein can easily be converted to glucose, or sugar, through a process called neoglucogenesis, only a very small portion of the fat can be converted to glucose. Fatty acids are formed by a molecule of glycerol linking different fatty acids together. Only the glycerol, which represents a very small amount of a fat molecule, or between 9 and 15 percent, can be converted to glucose and elevate your blood sugar levels. However, this conversion usually happens many hours after your meal and does not result in a large rise in your blood sugar levels. Even if you monitor your blood sugar levels every hour, you probably won't be able to see the effect of fat on your blood sugar levels.
Delayed Gastric Emptying
Although fat does not have the ability to significantly raise your blood sugar levels, it can influence them by delaying your gastric emptying. When you eat a meal that contains a lot of fat, your food will stay longer in your stomach, and everything in your meal, including the carbohydrates, will be digested at a slower pace. As a result, a high-fat meal can make your blood sugar levels increase more slowly and peak later than if you have the same amount of carbohydrates with a smaller amount of fat.
High-fat and High-carbohydrate Foods
Fats and oils like olive oil, butter, coconut oil, cream, bacon, salad dressing, mayonnaise, chicken skin or fatty meat are almost pure fat and only contain traces of protein and carbohydrates. Foods like potato chips, fried chicken, chocolate croissants, deep-crust pizza, burgers, french fries, onion rings and chocolate bars are rich in carbs and fat and can raise your blood sugar levels, although the rise in your blood sugar levels will probably be delayed by 30 minutes to two hours, depending on the amount of fat you eat.
High-fat Diet and Diabetes
A few studies, including one published in December 2008 in "Nutrition & Metabolism," showed that a high-fat, low-carb diet could actually better help Type 2 diabetics lose weight and optimize their blood sugar levels than a traditional low-fat diabetes diet could. In this study, about 60 percent of the calories came from fat and 13 percent from carbohydrates in the low-carb group, while the low-fat group got 44 percent of its calories from carbohydrates and another 36 percent from fat. Consult your diabetes health team or a registered dietitian for help finding the best diet plans to suit your own personal needs and condition.
References
- InsulinPumpers.org; Protein, Fat, and Blood Sugar; October 2001
- "Endocrine Care"; Effects of Fat on Gastric Emptying of and the Glycemic, Insulin, and Incretin Responses to a Carbohydrate Meal in Type 2 Diabetes; Diana Gentilcore, et al.; March 2006
- Medtronic: Nutrition and Carbohydrate Counting
- "Nutrition & Metabolism"; The Effect of a Low-Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet Versus a Low-Glycemic Index Diet on Glycemic Control in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus; Eric C. Westman, et al.; December 2008
