{"id":11452,"date":"2024-02-09T14:00:04","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T22:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.everywomanover29.com\/blog\/?p=11452"},"modified":"2024-02-09T08:59:36","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T16:59:36","slug":"reactive-hypoglycemia-in-binge-eating-disorder-food-addiction-and-intense-sugar-cravings-and-how-glutamine-stops-the-cravings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywomanover29.com\/blog\/reactive-hypoglycemia-in-binge-eating-disorder-food-addiction-and-intense-sugar-cravings-and-how-glutamine-stops-the-cravings\/","title":{"rendered":"Reactive hypoglycemia in binge eating disorder, food addiction and intense sugar cravings, and how glutamine stops the cravings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"reactive<\/p>\n

A number of years ago a woman came to see me looking for help for her anxiety, insomnia and out of control sugar cravings which she described as an \u201calmost demonic urge\u00a0 to eat sugar and all things sweet.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Before working with me she had been trying to control her low blood sugar levels (or hypoglycemia) by eating the right foods at the right times i.e. healthy fats and quality protein especially at breakfast. But this wasn\u2019t enough to eliminate her intense sweet cravings. She would make and eat sweet treats all day long, using \u201chealthier\u201d sweeteners like monk fruit and maple syrup.<\/p>\n

I had her complete the brain chemistry symptoms questionnaire and she scored high on all the low blood sugar symptoms as well as low GABA and low serotonin. We focused on low blood sugar first and the solution for her cravings was using 500 mg of glutamine opened onto her tongue.<\/p>\n

Initially she was sure this would NOT work – how would she possibly be able to use glutamine in the midst of experiencing reactive hypoglycemia or low blood sugar?<\/p>\n

I had the same conversation\u00a0 that\u00a0 I have with all my clients who would obviously rather eat something sweet than open a glutamine capsule onto\u00a0 their tongue: \u201cIf you have an intense craving for something sweet, tell yourself that\u00a0 you\u2019re\u00a0 going to\u00a0 indulge, but also humor your nutritionist and take the glutamine anyway. You may be surprised to find your urge completely disappears.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

She did that and it worked time and time again, ending her demonic urge to eat something sweet every time and very quickly. And it helped her with all her low blood sugar symptoms.<\/p>\n

This blog addresses the role of low blood sugar or reactive hypoglycemia in intense sugar cravings, binge eating disorder and food addiction, and how glutamine helps.<\/p>\n

Research: Reactive hypoglycemia in binge eating disorder and food addiction<\/h2>\n

The 2023 paper, Reactive hypoglycemia in binge eating disorder, food addiction, and the comorbid phenotype: unravelling the metabolic drive to disordered eating behaviours<\/a>, highlights the fact that \u201cimpaired metabolic response<\/em>\u201d such as fasting blood glucose fluctuations are a factor in binge eating and food addiction, driving out of control and \u201crepetitive consumption of highly processed food.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers \u201cinvestigated hypoglycemia events during a 5-hour-long oral glucose tolerance test\u201d <\/em>in 200 participants and \u201cthe association between the severity of eating psychopathology and the variability in hypoglycemia events was explored.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The authors conclude as follows:<\/p>\n

People with binge eating disorder\/BED or food addiction\/FA are prone to experiencing reactive hypoglycemia; food addiction severity may predict early and symptomatic hypoglycemia events. This can further reinforce disordered eating behaviours by promoting addictive responses, both biologically and behaviourally. <\/em><\/p>\n

You can read the study here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that the participants did not have diabetes. I mention this because most of the reactive hypoglycemia research looks at diabetic patients. Reactive hypoglycemia in the non-diabetic population is considered controversial even amongst functional medicine and\/or integrative practitioners. This paper stands out for this reason.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also recently published which makes me excited. This research is confirming what we see clinically.<\/p>\n

This research is very much in line with the demonic urge my client described, and directly tied to her low blood sugar and blood sugar swings. My client did not do a 5 hour oral glucose tolerance test. Instead we used the low blood sugar symptoms questionnaire (see below) and a trial of glutamine.<\/p>\n

My client was also not diagnosed with binge eating disorder or food addiction but didn\u2019t have to be for us to recognize the issue and have her benefit from nutritional support in the way of glutamine and learning to eat for blood sugar stability.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the authors do not discuss glutamine as a solution in this particular paper or in any other research on human participants who are non-diabetic. There are a few animal diabetes studies, with this 2013 study<\/a> reporting that \u201cglutamine was more effective in promoting glycemia recovery if compared with glucose, lactate, glycerol, or alanine.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 The authors call for further investigations which I look forward to reading.<\/p>\n

Low blood sugar symptoms and a glutamine trial<\/h2>\n

As a reminder here are the signs of low blood sugar<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Sugar cravings, binge eating and addiction symptoms:<\/p>\n