"Does sourdough bread cause blood sugar spikes in people with diabetes?"

"Does sourdough bread cause blood sugar spikes in people with diabetes?"

This is one of the many common questions I get asked by my patients at my clinic or by participants at my habits as medicine coaching programs.  

I did a video to specifically answer this question, it is one of my most viewed videos on my youtube channel, with more than a million views, you can watch the video below. I have also done a synopsis and full transcript of the video for your easy reference and learning.

Hope this would help you answer clearly the question "Does sourdough bread cause blood sugar spikes in people with diabetes?" in a clear and balanced way.

Let Your Habits be Your Medicine.
Dr Chan

Synopsis of video:

Does Sourdough Bread Cause Blood Sugar Spike for People with Diabetes?

• Yes,  sourdough bread raises blood sugar to some degree, like all breads and starchy foods do. So it is not accurate to say that sourdough bread has no effect on blood sugar.
• However, compared to many other breads, sourdough bread usually causes a smaller and slower rise in blood sugar, but the increase is still significant enough to require attention.

Why Sourdough Bread May Cause a Smaller Blood Sugar Spike

• Sourdough bread typically has a glycaemic index (GI) in the 50s, placing it in the low to medium GI range.
• This means the rise in blood sugar after eating sourdough bread is lower than high-GI breads, but the degree of impact varies depending on the person eating it as well as how the sourdough was made and prepared. 

A Common Misunderstanding About Sourdough Bread and Blood Sugar

• It is incorrect to believe that:
  • Sourdough bread does not cause blood sugar spikes
  • People with diabetes can eat sourdough bread freely without limits
• A more accurate understanding is:
  Sourdough bread still causes some degree of blood sugar spike, but usually to a lesser degree than many other breads.

What Actually Affects the Blood Sugar Spike After Eating Sourdough Bread

• The blood sugar response depends on more than just the type of bread:
  • Your individual glucose tolerance
  • The amount of sourdough bread consumed
  • The combination of foods in the meal
• These factors can significantly influence how high your blood sugar rises after eating.

So, Does Sourdough Bread Cause Blood Sugar Spike for People with Diabetes?

• Yes - it does cause a blood sugar spike to some degree, that is normal and to be expected.
• But typically less than many other breads.

It should still be eaten mindfully and in appropriate portions, depending on a person's overall diet, diabetes control and carbohydrate tolerance level.

Bottom Line

• Sourdough bread should not be seen as “free” food for people with diabetes, something that can be taken in any amounts, just because it is lower in glycemic index than most breads.
• It can still raise blood sugar, even if the rise is more moderate.

Managing blood sugar depends not just on the type of bread, but:

• How much you eat
• What you eat together with it
• Your body’s response

Full transcript of video "Is sourdough bread good for diabetes?" (with section headers added)

 ---------- Beginning of video transcript ----------

Does sourdough bread raise blood sugar? 

Sourdough bread. Does sourdough bread raise blood sugar? What is the impact on blood sugar within the first two hours of eating sourdough bread?

And is the blood sugar spike from eating sourdough bread any different from eating other types of breads? What is the GI or glycemic index of sourdough bread? These are some of the questions that I'm going to tackle in this episode of ‘Know What You Eat’.

Welcome to the Habits Pharmacy, where habits become medicine. I'm Dr Chan, your host.

"Doctor, I take sourdough breads because they don't raise my blood sugar."

I always review very thoroughly the eating habits of all my patients, including those with diabetes, and sometimes I will see some of them having obviously excessive amounts of breads and I will point it out to them and some of them will tell me, “Doctor, these are not normal breads, they are sourdough breads, they do not cause blood sugar spikes. Or “Doctor, I was told by my friends that because of the special way that sourdough breads are made, they are different from other breads. So people with diabetes can take sourdough breads freely.”

"Sourdough breads do not raise blood sugar." TRUE or FALSE?

So let's examine this statement – “Sourdough breads do not raise blood sugar, and people with diabetes can take it freely, in any amounts without any concerns about having any unhealthy blood sugar spikes from eating sourdough breads.” True or False?

What do you think? Let's have a mini quiz, a multiple choice question quiz with regards to sourdough breads. Which of these statements do you think is true?

Is it (A) sourdough bread does not raise blood sugar? People with diabetes can take it freely.
Or is it (B) sourdough bread raises blood sugar as much as any other breaths? People with diabetes should still be mindful of that.
Or is it (C) sourdough bread will still raise blood sugar, albeit to a lesser degree than most other breads. People with diabetes should still be mindful of the effect.

Which of these statements do you think more accurately reflect how sourdough breads might affect blood sugar?

Is it a, b, or c? Why don't you write down your answer in the comments section below?

Glycemic Index of Sourdough Breads

One way of looking at the impacts of any food on blood sugar within the first two hours of ingestion is by looking at the GI or glycemic index of that food from databases of GI tests done on that food. And my go-to source for GI information is this website maintained by the University of Sydney, which has one of the largest databases of GI test results. Go to glycemicindex.com, then click on GI search, type in sourdough and click search, and you will get a listing of all the records of GI testing done on different types of sourdough breads in the database. As you can see, the GI of sourdough breads are in the fifties range.

When one say that the GI test result of a particular brand or recipe of sourdough bread is say 54. What does it actually mean? To put it very simply, almost at the risk of oversimplification, we can take it to mean that after eating that particular sourdough bread, the resulting blood sugar spike is about 54% of the blood sugar spike from eating the equivalent amount of glucose in the two hours after ingestion.

Sourdough Breads are low to medium GI (Glycemic Index) Foods.

So with a GI in the fifties range, the GI of sourdough bread is in the low to medium GI categories, similar to wholemeal breads, albeit, generally a little lower.

This is how the range of GI for sourdough breads compare with other common staples such as oats, rice, quinoa, and barley.

Factors affecting blood sugar spikes after eating sourdough breads.

Although the glycemic index rating of sourdough breads is in the fifties, the actual blood sugar spike or the glycemic response for any individual after eating a meal containing sourdough bread is determined by more than just a GI of the sourdough bread.

It also depends on a few factors, including that individual's glucose tolerance, the amount of sourdough bread eaten. As well as what other foods were eaten together with the sourdough bread in that particular meal.

At this point, I want to highlight that the focus of this video is on discussing the blood sugar impact of sourdough bread. I am not comparing sourdough bread with other breads in terms of nutrition, phytates or gluten levels in this video.

"Does sourdough bread raise blood sugar?" The Answer

So let's go back to the mini quiz I challenge you with at the beginning of the video. The answer is not (A) - it is not correct to say that sourdough breads does not raise blood sugar and that people with diabetes can take sourdough breads freely in any amount without any concerns about blood sugar spikes.

But at the same time, it is also not quite true to say that sourdough breads raises blood sugar as much as any other types of breads.

The correct answer should be (C) -that sourdough bread will still raise blood sugar, albeit usually to a lesser degree than most other breads.

How people with diabetes should 'see' sourdough breads.

Therefore, although sourdough bread has a lower glycemic index than many other breads, people with diabetes should still be mindful that sourdough bread with a glycemic index of about 55 will still raise blood sugar, albeit to a lesser degree than the higher GI breads, and should therefore still be mindful of the other factors that I have highlighted earlier in the video that will affect the blood sugar spike when eating a meal containing sourdough bread.

I hope you have found this video useful. Let me know in the comments below what other questions regarding food and health that you would like me to tackle in future episodes of Know What You Eat, Let Habits Be Thy Medicine. I'm Dr Chan. Eat well and be well.

---------- End of video transcript ----------

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