Wait — Can Your Gut Health Affect Your Blood Sugar? This MD Says Yes

We talk about the gut a bunch around here, as your microbiome affects a variety of functions in your body—from your skin health to your immunity to your stress levels and overall mood. And now: your blood sugar. Well...potentially. 

See, Stanford-trained physician Casey Means, M.D., co-founder of Levels, tells us that some people see rather intense blood sugar spikes from healthy, whole foods (like beans, oatmeal, and grapes). And on the mindbodygreen podcast, she declares poor gut health may be the reason why. 

"[This] is not surprising," says Means. "The microbiome [does] a first pass on food. They're the ones who break down some of those early carbohydrates before it actually goes into the body." Perhaps that's why she can eat "a can of beans" and see no glucose response, while others eat one serving and find their blood sugar sky-high. "I think that people who are used to eating lots of plant fiber probably have microbiomes that tend to process it a little bit more favorably," she adds. 

According to Means, it might not take long to see results. "My co-founder David [Flinner] started eating huge amounts of chia every morning to get his fiber in, and over the course of the month after eating all this fiber day after day, he found that he no longer responded as much to beans," she says. 

We need way more research to make a confident call, but Means has an inkling that your microbiome can affect your blood sugar response to certain healthy foods. Enhancing your gut health comes with some other renowned benefits, anyway, so it's not the worst mindset to have.