Scientists studying the effect of a carbohydrate mouth rinse on athletic performance have determined that it is only a rinse containing real carbs, and not just a sweet taste, that can trick the brain into thinking that carbs are being eaten. I wonder if this means that artificial sweeteners also fail to trick the brain/pancreas into releasing insulin.

With This Rinse, Performance Improves

Exercise scientists say they have stumbled on an amazing discovery. Athletes can improve their performance in intense bouts of exercise, lasting an hour or so, if they merely rinse their mouths with a carbohydrate solution. They don’t even have to swallow it.

It has to be real carbohydrates, though; the scientists used a solution of water and a flavorless starch derivative called maltodextrin. Artificial sweeteners have no effect.

And the scientists think they have figured out why it works. It appears that the brain can sense carbohydrates in the mouth, even tasteless ones. The sensors are different from the ones for sweetness, and they prompt the brain to respond, spurring on the athlete.
………………………………………….
“You can get an advantage from tricking your brain,” said a discoverer of the effect, Matt Bridge, a senior lecturer in coaching and sports science at the University of Birmingham in England. “Your brain tells your body, ‘Carbohydrates are on the way.’ ” And with that message, muscles and nerves are prompted to work harder and longer.”
………………………………………….
Meanwhile, neuroscientists found that rodent brains, at least, responded to carbohydrates in the mouth independently of their response to sweetness. It is carbohydrates that matter, and so artificial sweeteners do not stimulate these pathways that go from the mouth to the brain.

Then Dr. Bridge and his colleagues in Birmingham used functional magnetic-resonance imaging to determine whether glucose, which tastes sweet, has the same effect on the brain as the tasteless carbohydrate maltodextrin. They also tested artificial sweeteners for comparison. The brain scan results confirmed the exercise study results: Carbohydrates activated brain areas involved with rewards and muscle activity. Artificial sweeteners did not.


Article is by our old friend Gina Kolata:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/h...&WT.mc_ev=click

Hmm. Well, after looking around the web a bit I see that artificial sweeteners do indeed cause the release of insulin. Odd that it doesn't 'fool' the brain in one case but does prompt the insulin response from the pancreas.

I don't think that's exactly fact, lots of studies suggest it doesn't.

Here's one:
Sweet-taste receptors, low-energy sweeteners, glucose absorption and insulin release.

Many people on this site have tested their blood sugar in response to artificial sweeteners. Only a few had a spike if I remember correctly. Most did not.

Various things are absorbed directly through the mucous membranes of the mouth. It could be that sugar is, too.

I'd like to see that paper so I can make my own interpretation of their results.

Well I think maltodextrin is a poor choice for several reasons. Bodybuilders use it to recharge since it's better than sugar in that respect. I sometimes use a pkg of Sweet 'n Low as a quick boost while playing golf. It's metabolized similar to coconut oil. Dextrose is higher on the GI (Glycemic Index) list than maltodextrin, however, maltodextrin is higher on the insulin index. Most AS are cut with maltodextrin, so that should be a factor in insulin release too.

I wonder what would happen if they repeated the experiment using dextrose that actually tastes sweet?

http://www.mens-total-fitness.com/d...ltodextrin.html

Thanks for pointing that out. Makes me feel better about the S&L in my iced tea. I remembered that some people here had tested their BG levels but didn't remember if the sweeteners caused insulin release.

I can't tell how much of an insulin release I have with sweeteners, but I can tell what my blood glucose levels are within the tolerances of a consumer BG meter.

I found with the Canadian version of Sugar Twin with cyclamate, it can raise my BG if a take more than 6 packets at once, or 4.8g of the stuff.

For example, for one test, I came in after a fast at 4.4mmol/L. Drank some water with the 6 packets of Sugar Twin and 38m later, had a 5.1. 67m later I was 4.5, and 95m later I was back to 4.4.

With the liquid version of Sugar Twin up here, I tried testing it, but found I could make the water taste really, really sweet and still not have a reaction like I did with the dry packet test.

So with this is mind, I suspect that it wasn't the cyclamate that caused my BG to rise. It most likely was the dextrose that's bound to the cycamate in the dry version to give it some mass. (The liquid version doesn't need dextrose as a binder.)

If this hold true, at least north of the 49th, it might explain why with some people it raises their BG, and in some it doesn't.

I was just reading about this! What I read suggested that non-diabetics will most likely not experience a blood sugar spike, but that diabetics and anyone with "pre-diabetes" will.

It does seem that so many of us here are sensitive to insulin...if my own carbohydrate count goes much above 20g on any given day I will become ravenously hungry and have major cravings. I do not experience ketosis though at such a low carb level. I'm obviously metabolically weird...I wonder what my own blood glucose does after artificial sweeteners?

I wonder how they got the rodents to spit out the carbohydrates? : )

I was also one of those that tested blood sugar levels after a fake sweetener. However, I cut them all out recently...even if they don't cause a spike in insulin they give me insane sugar cravings. Eventually I succumb

It's impossible for a no-calorie sweetener to raise blood sugar as there is no sugar in it. It could conceivably cause hypoglycemia to some degree = cravings.

So, they proved that just having sugar in your mouth can cause the brain to hallucinate.

So sugar makes you crazy. Didn't we already know that?