N Recently I stood once again very heavily dressed in a well-heated drugstore and grew thirsty. In the beverage fridge there were iced tea, soda, water. Coconut water! But on another can I read “fiber-rich”, “sugar-free”, “the drink of tomorrow” – and I felt adventurous enough to try this drink today.
Around the can a colorful tube curved, like our intestines through the abdominal cavity. A soft drink with apple cider vinegar was on the back. It had to come to pass sooner or later: soft drinks against blood sugar spikes. Because apple cider vinegar is said to stabilize blood sugar levels and curb cravings.
The trend of watching one’s blood sugar, keeping it as stable as possible and avoiding any glucose rollercoaster, my roommate picked up a few years ago. In the morning she drank a glass of water with two spoons of apple cider vinegar. Always with a straw, otherwise the acid would attack the enamel.
I watched her and sipped provocatively at my extra-large coffee with oat milk. It was also the time when she tried to befriend pea milk. Oats have a lot of sugar and are therefore shunned by blood sugar gurus.
The blood sugar trend was sparked mainly by the French influencer and biochemist Jessie Inchauspé. She says too many blood sugar spikes cause inflammation and thus, in the long run, chronic diseases. More and more you see people with glucose sensors on the upper arm, originally developed for diabetics.
Inchauspé calls herself Glucose Goddess. Her tips for a stable blood sugar: Do not eat sweets first thing in the morning, otherwise you’ll crave more sugar for the rest of the day. For meals, the order goes: vegetables first, then proteins, then the carbohydrates. Dessert should be eaten immediately afterwards, rather than a cake in the afternoon. This way the sugar is released into the blood more slowly because the stomach is occupied with fiber. This sequence keeps the glucose peak as small as possible.
Not Scientifically Tenable
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The thing is, though, that the studies cited by Inchauspé are based on animal experiments or were conducted with diabetics. For diabetics, high blood sugar values are a risk. It has not been proven that blood sugar spikes are unhealthy for healthy people. Moreover, every person reacts differently to meals. A piece of cheesecake can cause a small uptick for my roommate, but for me it could trigger a sharp peak in my blood sugar curve.
But I actually wanted to try this drink. When opening, the can hisses as promisingly as a cola in 32 degrees Celsius shade. I take a big gulp. The problem I can smell before I taste it: vinegar. I think of cleaning the bathroom, of lime deposits I try to soak away to no avail. Then my mouth tightens. The drink is uncomfortably sour, and I don’t even have a straw with me. I take a few more sips before I leave the can resting on a power box. The scent of vinegar lingers in my nose for a while.
I think of the film “Remember Me” with Robert Pattinson and Emilie de Ravin. In it, she orders dessert before the main course at the restaurant as she always does. If she dies suddenly while eating, at least she would have had dessert. Because, life is short.
