Hypoglycaemia is the medical term for ‘low blood sugar’, and it is usually a result of too much insulin being produced (or too much injected, in the case of diabetics). Everyone suffers from this condition to some extent – especially when they eat meals containing a lot of sugar and starch. Drinking alcohol with the meal makes matters worse. Extra insulin is produced to cope with this onslaught of high-glucose food, and in an excess of zeal it reduces the blood sugar to a very low level, producing symptoms of tiredness, confusion and hunger about two to five hours after the meal. If the blood sugar drops to a very low level, then adrenaline is produced, to help the body cope with what is a major crisis. The effect of the adrenaline is to make the subject irritable and aggressive. He or she will also sweat more, tremble and look pale – and there may be a change in the heart rhythm. Since this type of hypoglycaemia is a response to too much sugar, it is known as reactive hypoglycaemia.
In the past, doctors often advised people with reactive hypoglycaemia to drink a cup of sweet tea, or suck sweets or glucose tablets, whenever they felt the symptoms coming on. This may relieve the symptoms temporarily, but in the long term it just perpetuates the problem. The influx of sugar will simply stimulate the body to produce more insulin, and so make matters worse.
People who are overweight and eat a lot of starchy or sugary food may suffer from reactive hypoglycaemia on a daily basis. Their body cells become more responsive to insulin, because they have to cope with such a high glucose load, so they easily become hypoglycaemic, especially if they miss out on one of their usual sugary snacks. Simply changing their diet will help such people, although they may find it quite difficult to wean themselves off the high-sugar diet that their body has become accustomed to. They should eat more meat, fish, eggs, cheese and vegetables, and cut out sugar and honey entirely. White flour and bread should be replaced by wholemeal, since this is digested more slowly and does not release a lot of glucose at once. Even so, the amount of bread, pastry and potatoes should be restricted, and no cakes, biscuits, sweets, puddings or jam must be eaten. If there is an improvement, then some sweet foods can be reintroduced to the diet later, once the body has regained its natural equilibrium.
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