Why You Shouldn’t Believe Everything You Read on The Internet About Reactive Hypoglycemia

I’ve talked about how there’s a lot of bad information out there on the web about reactive hypoglycemia. One of the main culprits is reactivehypoglycemia.net. I skimmed through their site when I was first looking for information on reactive hypoglycemia. Here are just some of the errors I found hidden in their “information”:

• Error 1: Reactive Hypoglycemia can be caused by breast cancer and liver tumors

  While it’s true that some women undergoing treatment for cancer experience hypoglycemia, and that liver tumors can (rarely) be responsible for hypoglycemia, it’s important to know that hypoglycemia and reactive hypoglycemia are two separate conditions. For more on that subject, see my article Top Five Common Misconceptions About Reactive Hypoglycemia. A liver tumor (insulinoma) is a rare tumor (A New England Journal of Medicine article estimated this at four cases per 1 million person-years). So rare that doctors rarely consider it as a cause for reactive hypoglycemia. Patients are more likely to have “regular” hypoglycemia with insulinoma.

• Error 2: “Reactive Hypoglycemic is a medical condition with no known underlying medical problem such as diabetes.”
  It used to be that doctors didn’t know the cause, but most of the underlying physiological causes of reactive hypoglycemia are now known thanks to modern research. It is not correct to state that reactive hypoglycemia is a disease of unknown cause.  It may be hard to track it down, but there’s always a cause because reactive hypoglycemia is a set of symptoms, not a disease.
• Error 3: “the blood sugar drops irrespective of there[sic] food intake–this condition is referred to as reactive hypoglycemia”

  

  Reactive hypoglycemia is related to food intake. See this article here for a lengthy discussion about this topic.

• Error 4: “Avoid any form of breads or soups is also a good idea as they too contain high quantities of sugar in them”

  Wrong again! There are many varieties of soups and breads that are not adulterated with sugar. In fact, some sugars (fructose and evaporated cane juice) may not cause a hypoglycemic response. The problem is that you need to eat a balanced diet, as in carbs, protein, and fiber. Carb-heavy meals will set off your symptoms. See my article The Hypoglycemic Diet if you’d like to read more about what to eat and what not to eat.

• Error 5: Glucagen: “This hormone is the one mainly responsible for keeping the balance of levels of sugar in their blood”

  Actually, a complex cornucopia of glycoregulatory hormones is responsible for maintaining correct blood sugar levels. Insulin, epinephrine, and glucagen are three of the “main” regulators.

• Error 6: “Emergency Foods: Cup of Fat Free Milk, Tablespoon of honey or corn syrup, fruit juice or Regular soda, 2 tablespoons of jam and raisins, 7 small gumdrops, 8 Lifesavers”

  Rest assured that as bad as you feel when your blood sugar drops, there is a zero mortality rate with reactive hypoglycemia (the same is not true with diabetes related hypoglycemia, but that is an entirely different matter). If you do crash, do not eat candy or corn syrup unless you want to start the roller coaster off again. Choose a piece of whole grain toast, a small carton of juice, or if you feel really bad, a glucose tablet. Milk will not raise your blood sugar sufficiently to make you feel better. You need carbs!

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