Sugar vs. starches

[Ignoramus2]

I have heard an opinion tat effects on sugar are identical to
the effects of starches. E.g. if you eat a piece of sugar or
you eat an identical (in calories) piece of starchy white
bread, they say, the effect is the same. And yet my own
feeling is that it is not the same. Can anyone elucidate that
difference or similarity? Thanks

i

[Martin Tho]

12:48:09 Sun, 5 Oct 2003sci.med.nutrition Ignoramus28530
at Ignoramus28530
<ignoramus28530@NOSPAM.28530.invalid> writes:
>I have heard an opinion tat effects on sugar are identical to
>the effects of starches. E.g. if you eat a piece of sugar or
>you eat an identical (in calories) piece of starchy white
>bread, they say, the effect is the same. And yet my own
>feeling is that it is not the same. Can anyone elucidate that
>difference or similarity? Thanks
>

It depends, but in general, the starches will take your body
longer to convert to glucose, so you get less of a blood
glucose spike than you would with straight sugar (the spike is
more spread out and so lower).

--
Martin Thompson bin@tucana.demon.co.uk (use "martin" not
"bin") London, UK Home Page: http://www.tucana.demon.co.uk Web
Shop: http://buy.at/tucana Mobile Phone Ring Tones:
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"Everything I do and say with anyone makes a difference."
Gita Bellin

[Eric Bohlm]

Martin Thompson <bin@tucana.demon.co.uk> wrote in
news:2qEJ5bIVuBg$EwQh@tucana.demon.co.uk:

> 12:48:09 Sun, 5 Oct 2003sci.med.nutrition Ignoramus28530 at
> Ignoramus28530 <ignoramus28530@NOSPAM.28530.invalid>
> writes:
>>I have heard an opinion tat effects on sugar are identical
>>to the effects of starches. E.g. if you eat a piece of sugar
>>or you eat an identical (in calories) piece of starchy white
>>bread, they say, the effect is the same. And yet my own
>>feeling is that it is not the same. Can anyone elucidate
>>that difference or similarity? Thanks
>>
>
> It depends, but in general, the starches will take your body
> longer to convert to glucose, so you get less of a blood
> glucose spike than you would with straight sugar (the spike
> is more spread out and so lower).

But with something like white bread, the difference is
pretty small.

It appears that a lot of the subjective perceived effects of
sugar consumption (like the "sugar high") are really just
results of suggestion and expectation. There's also the matter
of quantity; even if X grams of carbohydrate from sugar have
the same effect as X grams of carbohydrate from starch,
somebody eating, say candy may be consuming a lot more
carbohydrate from sugar at once than they would from bread. Or
drinking soft drinks; a 12-oz can of cola contains as much
carbohydrate as three slices of white bread. Two cans of cola
wouldn't strike most people as "pigging out" but six slices of
bread would.

[Ignoramus2]

thanks gentlemen...

i

In article <Xns940B5D6DDD8F7ebohlmanomsdevcom@130.133.1.4>,
Eric Bohlman wrote:
> Martin Thompson <bin@tucana.demon.co.uk> wrote in
> news:2qEJ5bIVuBg$EwQh@tucana.demon.co.uk:
>
>> 12:48:09 Sun, 5 Oct 2003sci.med.nutrition Ignoramus28530 at
>> Ignoramus28530 <ignoramus28530@NOSPAM.28530.invalid>
>> writes:
>>>I have heard an opinion tat effects on sugar are identical
>>>to the effects of starches. E.g. if you eat a piece of
>>>sugar or you eat an identical (in calories) piece of
>>>starchy white bread, they say, the effect is the same. And
>>>yet my own feeling is that it is not the same. Can anyone
>>>elucidate that difference or similarity? Thanks
>>>
>>
>> It depends, but in general, the starches will take your
>> body longer to convert to glucose, so you get less of a
>> blood glucose spike than you would with straight sugar (the
>> spike is more spread out and so lower).
>
> But with something like white bread, the difference is
> pretty small.
>
> It appears that a lot of the subjective perceived effects of
> sugar consumption (like the "sugar high") are really just
> results of suggestion and expectation. There's also the
> matter of quantity; even if X grams of carbohydrate from
> sugar have the same effect as X grams of carbohydrate from
> starch, somebody eating, say candy may be consuming a lot
> more carbohydrate from sugar at once than they would from
> bread. Or drinking soft drinks; a 12-oz can of cola contains
> as much carbohydrate as three slices of white bread. Two
> cans of cola wouldn't strike most people as "pigging out"
> but six slices of bread would.