I’ve recently started using little packets of Glucose SOS mixed with a small amount of water to treat lows. I love it. It seems to live up to the promise of raising BG quickly without causing a very large spike, just a medium one.
I like the little packets — lightweight to carry and with a set dose.
I’m also very pleasantly surprised by the flavor. Mixed with even a relatively small amount of water, the taste is very mild. In my experience, treatments for lows can taste a bit worse or a bit better but they’re all somewhat repulsive to me in their mouth filling sweetness. (And if you take the powder without water, it’s like that, too.)
I’m going to keep on getting the SOS packets. At the same time, I’m wondering about getting a tub of dextrose with a scoop for home use to save a little money and waste and to be able to do a half scoop. I’m seeing products online that seem to be used by people doing weight training / body building. I’m not familiar with these companies and I guess I regard the body building supplement world with mild suspicion. Does anyone have experience using powdered dextrose sold in bulk to treat lows?
I’ve been using the bulk dextrose powder by nutricost and was motivated to try it due to the ingredient label of the glucose tablets I’ve been using for years.
Ingredients:
Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Citric Acid, Magnesium Stearate, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Ascorbic Acid, Fd&C Red #40 Lake, Fd&C Blue #1 Lake.
They’re convenient but that ingredient list is disgusting! The nutricost product lists one ingredient: dextrose. It doesn’t travel well but home use with a teaspoon and chased with water is very effective.
I checked the Glucose SOS product online but an ingredient list is nowhere to be found; at least I couldn’t find it. Are the ingredients listed on the packaging?
The bulk dextrose powder is effective and very fast if you take it with water. I will continue to use at home but I’m looking for a dextrose tablet for away from home use. I will consider products like Glucose SOS if they don’t “doctor” the pure dextrose composition.
Apparently, the packets don’t expire, which is a plus and perhaps the reason for the acids and phosphate. The extra ingredients may also be for flavor which, like I say, is pleasingly mild when even 5 or 6 ozs of water are added. I use a little Nalgene water bottle with a wide opening.
I appreciate that your sources of emergency glucose have been significantly diminished due to your allergies, @Sarah_K1. I have just learned, however, that tapioca dextrose made from cassava contains other health implications. It may not be useful for some of us.
I’ve just finished listening to Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind by Georgia Ede, MD. She mentioned cassava root, from which tapioca dextrose is made. It has the potential to cause problems for people who live with hypothyroidism, a condition I live with.
You may read more of Dr. Ede’s thinking about thyroid health and diet, including her cassava caution, here.
Hey Terry4, thanks for sharing this. I am aware of the cassava warnings for thyroid patients, of which I am also one. For me the corn allergy is a bigger concern. That said, I try to limit how often I use it. It’s only for when I’m not home and even when I go to work I take extra juice in my lunch bag. So I maybe use it once every couple of weeks. Hopefully that’s not enough to cause too much trouble.
I am using Transcend, found on Amazon. It is a semi liquid material. Tear off the top of the package, place the top in your mouth and squeeze from the bottom. Works well for me.
I bought the NOW foods dextrose. It dissolves really easily and is pleasant and economical. I have a 1tbsp scoop in there for a little over 8 carbs per scoop. It’s interesting how dextrose tastes less sweet than sugar but apparently acts faster (and definitely dissolves more easily.)
Thanks all for the suggestions!
This thread motivated me to reconsider my hypoglycemia treatments. My usual glucose tabs (dextrose + several food colorings and preservatives) alarmed me since I use them more often than I would like.
While the taste was somewhat objectionable, I found them convenient and effective. They were way better than trying to treat with any food. The aspect that they were a measured response is the source of their long-term success for me.
@Sarah_K1 made the point in a thread from a few years ago that dextrose was made from corn or wheat, a fact that her allergies made unacceptable to her. That was new information to me especially since I had cut both of those food items from my diet, or so I thought.
What I’ve discovered (from two separate reliable on-line sources) is that since dextrose is so highly processed, even people with celiac disease can consume it without a problem. I realize there are exceptions like Sarah but I’m thinking that dextrose is OK for me. Less is still better!
In my search for alternatives, I considered coconut powdered sugar and maple sugar crystals. Further review found that these sources were comprised by over half of them existing of sucrose, a disaccharide (2 sugars) that is equal parts glucose and fructose.
Why is this important to me? Glucose and fructose take very different metabolic paths in the body. We all know how insulin plays a key role in absorbing glucose but I think fewer people realize that the liver metabolizes fructose.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease incidence is currently at about 33% globally and over-consumption of fructose exacerbates that. I don’t avoid fructose but prefer that my consumption come from berries and not low blood sugar treatments.
Bottom line, I’m going to use dextrose when I’m home and glucose tabs, for their convenience when I’m away from home. Not a perfect solution but better than my previous practice.
Thank you to @Tnyc and @Sarah_K1 for provoking useful discovery for me!
Thanks Terry4 for bringing this up. There are many (particularly in the carnivore world) who think unprocessed sugars (which they consider maple syrup, honey, coconut sugar, and sucanat), to be safe forms of fructose, similar to what’s found in whole fruit. Or in other words, they don’t believe those sugars are harmful, or are going to cause NAFLD. High fructose corn syrup is what’s really suspect there. That said, especially if one was already dealing with NAFLD, I can see how one would be hesitant to “poke the bear”.
In any case, better is simply better, so I’m glad you found a solution that works for you!
