Why does blood sugar spike after a meal if food is digested in the stomach for several hours before it starts getting absorbed in the small intestine?
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No all food digests at the same rate and nutrient absorption isn’t just occurring in the small intestine. Simple sugars like candy or juice can breakdown and enter your bloodstream before they even hit your stomach. Refined carbs process a little slower, protein a bit slower, complex carbs slower still and fats slowest of all.
Important to note that, if you have a functioning pancreas, your blood sugar does not ‘spike’ after eating. And if you want an example of complex carbs breaking down fast and early, place a plain corn flake or Cheerio on your tongue and let it sit for just a few seconds. Your saliva has enzymes that start the breakdown in your mouth.
Looks like our bodies can’t help but turn food into a surprise party for our blood sugar levels.
The duodenum (the first part of the intestines after the stomach) quickly liberate sugar into the bloodstream. Little pieces of the food are slowly emptied into it from the stomach not all at once after the two hours. The stomach can empty as quickly as one hour for smaller meals.
Our high school health teachers were wrong when they said that nutrients are absorbed by the small intestine. Some nutrients are absorbed in the stomach too!
Sugar is water soluble and usually (hopefully) already dissolved when you injest it. Doesnt take your body long to absorb that.
Small intestines are for working down those proteins and fats.
Whenever you see a “Why does X if Y” question, one of the X or Y is usually incorrect or irrelevant
Digestion starts in the mouth. Saliva and teeth begin the process and the tissue all through the digestive tract, that is from lips to rectum is capable of absorbing nutrients.
One treatment for low sugar in an emergency is buccal glucose. This is basically a tube of medical-grade cake frosting that is squirted in between the the cheek and lower gum so it is absorbed. The body will absorb it from there. Another treatment is juice that gets absorbed quickly as well.
I was told there’s a reason Lifesavers were named that. I’ll google it later but it sounded like an oft repeated “fact” that my parents told me when I was a kid. I always assumed it was because it looked like a life ring from a boat and not that it helped diabetics (I didn’t even know what that was as a kid). I also heard the hole helps you breath if it gets stuck in your throat.
Most sugars dissolve easily in water and beakdown quickly in your stomach juices. Once the sugar and fluid in your stomach mix, it quickly hits your bloodstream. The remaining hours of digestion go toward fiber, fats, and proteins
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