Why Does Oatmeal Raise Your Blood Sugar Levels? [f94f4f3e6]

Despite being lauded as a health food, oatmeal often causes a glucose (blood sugar) spike. As @sonjakm notes in the reel, our Levels data shows oatmeal is a sneaky culprit. Why?

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▪️ Rolled and instant oats are processed foods. To speed up cook time, both have the outer husk removed and are flattened, pre-cooked, and toasted dry. Instant oats are also milled to a smaller size, so they take even less time to prepare. But this convenience means your body breaks down both types of oats quickly, which means the carbohydrates in the oats are more rapidly converted to glucose and absorbed. That can lead to a spike in blood sugar.

▪️ A crash often follows a sudden rise in glucose as your body releases extra insulin to try to get back to homeostasis. That blood sugar dip is why you may feel hungry and sluggish soon after a carb-heavy breakfast. This kind of eating could lead to health problems down the road.

▪️ Regular large spikes and plummets of glucose (called high glycemic variability) are linked to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer. And when you consider the links between metabolic function and cardiovascular disease, oatmeal’s status as a heart-healthy food seems less certain (1).

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