![]() ![]() This fact, which was discovered in the 1980s, has been the subject of numerous publications and articles. This is why it is important to realize that the time that elapses between the moment that we ingest a carb and the moment the glycemia peak appears (when the maximal glucose is absorbed) is exactly the same for all carbs whether they are simple or complex. This 5 minute difference is insignificant if we consider total digestion time which is approximately 3 hours. Thus, as can be seen in the above curve, all carbs (regardless of the complexity of their molecules) eaten by themselves and on an empty stomach are absorbed in 25 to 30 minutes. Studies carried out by Wahlqvist show that the time lapses for glycemia peaks to appear are nearly the same for all carbs regardless of whether their molecules are simple or complex. In fact, gastric drainage speed, which in effect varied from one carb to another, was being confused with the time lapse required for glucose to show up in our blood stream. They questioned the assumption that complex sugars’ long starch chain took longer than simple sugars to be absorbed by our small intestine. Needless to say, it would have been an excellent idea to verify if in fact this theory coincided with what really happened when these nutrients entered our bodies.ĭecades after dietitians, the press and many others had been sustaining this theory any which way, researchers started wondering at the contradictions and decided to look into the facts. This classification was in fact elaborated on purely theoretical bases. This is why “complex sugars” were called “slow-absorption carbs” or “slow sugars.” People thought that this took a long time and that the absorption of this glucose was a slow and gradual process. ![]() They thus classified them as “rapid-absorption carbohydrates” or “fast sugars.”Ĭomparatively, it was assumed that our digestive enzymes took much longer to transform “complex sugars” (cereals, pulses, tubers, roots…) -whose starch molecule is made up of hundreds of glucose molecules- into individual glucose molecules. People were, in fact, convinced that, since they required little modification by our intestine, simple sugars were rapidly turned into glucose and quickly absorbed by our intestinal wall to be made available for our blood stream. “Fast sugars” and “slow sugars”, a false distinction!Īs of the distinction between “simple sugars” and “complex sugars”, nutritionists were convinced that “simple sugars” (fruit, honey, powdered sugar and sugar cubes …), made up of one or two molecules, were rapidly and easily digested. It has been proven that it takes our intestine the same lapse of time, approximately half an hour, to absorb glucose regardless of the complexity of its molecule. Numerous studies carried out during the past 20 years have shown that this classification is absolutely false. People believed that glucose, after the carbohydrate had been digested, was absorbed more or less rapidly depending on the complexity of the carbohydrate molecule. This distinction was based on what was presumed to be the time taken for our bodies to assimilate these sugars. Slow sugars or slow-absorption carbohydrates. For years carbohydrates have been classified in two categories:įast sugars or rapid-absorption carbohydrates ![]()
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