Originally Posted by
Jughed
I was concerned that heavy sugar intake on the bike, something that I am willing to do for performance when required, may cause high insulin levels. And that doing it often, over long periods may not be a good thing... but now I understand that's not the case.
Not my area and I haven’t read about this for some time, but it might be (surprise!) complicated. Most of the data on exercise are not from people with T2DM. T2DM folks have, IIRC, a different representation of glucose transporters (lower Glut1 expression), which could affect insulin response during exercise—I don’t know. I have also read that some may also have genetic variations affecting the transporter proteins and their function. Even less is known about guys like you who are riding their asses off, or my brother who walks 40 miles a week and goes to the gym religiously, to control the disease. This is a very active area of research, particularly in Europe, so maybe the answers are available, but until they are, I think your cautious approach to fueling is wise.