Various things can make hypoglycaemia more likely. Alcohol, tea and coffee can all do so, especially if drunk in excess. Smoking increases the amount of both glucagon and insulin, producing a rise in blood sugar followed by a fall, about an hour later. The thyroid hormone plays an important part in controlling glucose levels, and either too much or too little thyroid hormone can cause hypoglycaemia. Some vitamin and mineral deficiencies make people more prone to hypoglycaemia. Drugs can cause hypoglycaemia, and stress makes it a great deal worse. Infestation with Candida can also be at the root of hypoglycaemia. Finally, there are some people who simply produce too much insulin, regardless of their diet or other circumstances – it seems, however, that these cases are quite rare.
The relationship between hypoglycaemia and food intolerance is a very tangled one. For one thing, the standard laboratory test for hypoglycaemia uses glucose that is derived from maize (known as dextrose). This is fed to the patient, and the level of glucose in the blood is measured some time later. In North America, where maize (corn) is a common food, many people are intolerant of it – and although maize sensitivity is less widespread in Britain, it does occur quite often. Someone who is very sensitive to maize may well react badly to the traces of maize protein in the dextrose, and that could mean that their blood glucose falls, regardless of whether they are hypoglycaemic or not. So there is a suspicion that the tests for hypoglycaemia may sometimes be measuring food intolerance, without anyone being aware of this. Patients may be told that they are hypoglycaemic when in fact they are intolerant of maize.
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