This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Now, let’s talk about what happens with sugar or refined carbohydrates after they leave the mouth and are ingested into the gastrointestinal tract. Of particular interest are insulin and sugar. Increased insulin production due to sugar intake will eventually lead to insulin resistance. Since refined sugar requires no metabolism or digestive processes for breakdown, sugar is immediately absorbed into the body, causing a rapid rise in blood sugar or blood glucose levels. The pancreas anticipates this rise and releases insulin, anticipating not only the amount of sugar in the stomach, but that there will be a meal following. Often too much insulin is secreted, which drops the blood sugar to a level below where the body functions optimally. This sets up a stress hormone reaction in the adrenal gland, and epinephrine, or adrenaline, is released to handle the stress. When adrenaline is released, it sends a message to the liver to break down glycogen stores (which are many glucose molecules hooked together) to release glucose into the blood stream. This corrects the low blood sugar level. Adrenalin makes many people feel anxious, nervous, and irritable; their heart rate may also go up. These adrenaline symptoms are perceived by the body as stress, and many people have discovered that if they eat sugar when their blood sugar is low, then their blood glucose will immediately rise and take away these symptoms. Unfortunately, with the body’s normal mechanisms of correcting low blood sugar and the ingestion of a sweet, the blood glucose may again go too high. The pancreas secretes too much insulin (again), dropping the blood sugar too much (again). If another candy sweet is ingested two hours after the first one, and the liver kicks in increasing glycogen breakdown, blood sugar rises too high, which triggers the pancreas to secrete more insulin, and gets into this endless cycle.

Another problem with high insulin levels is that there is an increase in sodium and water retention, which leads to hypertension and edema or water retention in the body. Insulin is also associated with increasing testosterone levels, which causes androgen effects. Some of the androgen effects that women don’t like are blemishes that appear and increased hair growth.

All that means is that the glucose is binding to proteins. If glucose binds to the proteins in the red blood cell, then it decreases oxygen delivery to the cells and increases its stickiness. This will cause clumping of red blood cells, which will diminish the ability of the blood stream to carry nutrients to areas and it will actually cause microinfarcts because these clumped red blood cells cannot pass through capillaries and will block the supply of blood.

When the sugar binds to a blood vessel wall, it causes inflammation and vascular disease. Inflammation is the beginning point of vascular disease, with its subsequent clotting and trapping of red blood cells, white cells, platelets and release of iron and copper. The release of iron and copper from the red blood cells will increase free radical releases. These are actually catalysts for free radical acceleration with subsequent free radical damage. The release of serotonin from the platelets will cause local inflammation and vasoconstriction or constriction of the blood vessels. This will eventually lead to an increase in incidence of strokes and heart attacks, hypertension, and kidney failure. Between the clumping of the red blood cells and the microinfarcts and the inflammation in the blood vessel wall, the blood vessel system is compromised, which reduces nutrients, oxygen, and the ability of the blood vessels to get rid of waste products, causing cyanotic (blue because of lack of oxygen) feet or limbs.

All inflammatory diseases have been attributed to rises in blood sugar levels and exposure to sugar on a chronic basis. These inflammatory diseases include arthritis, migraine headaches, the vascular disease that we’ve already talked about, emphysema, and eczema. Food allergies, rise in blood pressure and even symptoms of multiple sclerosis are increased upon exposure to sugar.

Many nutrients are used up in the process of metabolizing sugar. Magnesium is one of the most important minerals in the body, as it is utilized in more biochemical reactions than any other single mineral or vitamin in the body. With the diminished magnesium absorption and increased utilization of magnesium to metabolize sugar, it is not uncommon to have a magnesium deficiency in people with insulin resistance and diabetes.