I’m always looking for collaborators for future experiments. If you’re interested in collaborating on scientifically rigorous self-experiments with low-carb foods, supplements, or other health interventions, please let me know in the comments or via the contact form on the right.

After two experiment posts last week, I didn’t have enough data for any this week.

Experiments this week focused the initial replication effort for the vinegar study and testing of low-carb chocolates. /u/genetastic, /u/kabong, I have the data for the initial vinegar tests and are in the process of analyzing the data. Preliminary report will post next weekend. As a quick preview, we’re seeing signs of an effect, but the data is too noisy to be certain. More collaborators would improve the study considerably, so if you’re interested, let me know.

In terms of personal data, this was a weird week. I had a several days where I overate and/or mis-estimated my insulin dose at dinner, leading to out-of-range blood sugars and insomnia. I also got my COVID booster on Saturday, which led to the standard side effects, including fever, high blood sugars, and pulse. All-in-all, I pretty much need to ignore all overnight data from this week.

Active & Planned Experiments

• Blood Glucose Impact of Low-Carb Foods
  • Goal: Determine blood glucose impact of low-carb foods and ingredients
  • Approach: Protocol
  • Status:
    • This week: 4 commenter requests (Two Good yogurt, Julian Bakery bread, and “control” tortillas & ice cream (non-low carb, for comparison)) and 3 chocolates.
    • Reported:
      • Ketochow
      • Tortillas
      • Cereal
      • MSG
      • Ice Cream
      • Bread
      • Reader Requests
    • Up next:
      • Chocolate (10/9)
• Blood Glucose Impact of Supplements
  • Goal: Determine blood glucose impact and mechanism of promising supplements
  • Approach: tbd
  • Status:
    • This week: literature review, determining protocol
    • Reported:
      • Literature review
      • Pre-registration of protocol and analyses
    • Up next:
      • Initial Replication (10/2)
• Methods of Sleeping Longer
  • Melatonin

Let me know in the comments if there’s any other experiments you’d like to see.

– QD

Observations & Data

I’m always looking for collaborators for future experiments. If you’re interested in collaborating on scientifically rigorous self-experiments with low-carb foods, supplements, or other health interventions, please let me know in the comments or via the contact form on the right.

Two posts this week, Reader Requests and a literature survey and pre-registration of the effect of vinegar and other acids on blood glucose after meals.

Reader requests was really interesting. In every category, there was a Reader Request that either had a much lower BG impact than what I had found or gave significant insight into the BG impact of different ingredients.

I’m really excited about the vinegar/acid study, as well. There are three people participating so far, /u/genetastic, /u/kabong, myself. This should give us much more generalizable results and a decent shot of unraveling what’s going on with regard to effect size, scope, and mechanism (unclear from the literature). More collaborators would make the study even stronger, though, so if you’re interested, let me know.

Experiments this week focused the initial replication effort for the vinegar study and the last couple reader requests. Next week, I’ll shift back to the chocolate tests, though alternating those with the vinegar experiment will push back the final report on chocolate for a couple weeks (though I’ll have interim reports on the vinegar work).

Active & Planned Experiments

• Blood Glucose Impact of Low-Carb Foods
  • Goal: Determine blood glucose impact of low-carb foods and ingredients
  • Approach: Protocol
  • Status:
    • This week: 4 commenter requests (Two Good yogurt, Julian Bakery bread, and “control” tortillas & ice cream (non-low carb, for comparison)) and 3 chocolates.
    • Reported:
      • Ketochow
      • Tortillas
      • Cereal
      • MSG
      • Ice Cream
      • Bread
      • Reader Requests
    • Up next:
      • Chocolate (10/9)
• Blood Glucose Impact of Supplements
  • Goal: Determine blood glucose impact and mechanism of promising supplements
  • Approach: tbd
  • Status:
    • This week: literature review, determining protocol
    • Reported:
      • Literature review
      • Pre-registration of protocol and analyses
    • Up next:
      • Initial Replication (9/25)
• Methods of Sleeping Longer
  • Melatonin

Let me know in the comments if there’s any other experiments you’d like to see.

– QD

Observations & Data

I’m always looking for collaborators for future experiments. If you’re interested in collaborating on scientifically rigorous self-experiments with low-carb foods, supplements, or other health interventions, please let me know in the comments or via the contact form on the right.

I finally posted the results for low-carb breads this week. This was the most interesting of my prepared food studies so far. There was a huge variation in taste, texture, and BG impact and some mysteries that I’ll need to unravel (specifically, what’s going on with the resistant starches?).

Experiments this week focused on reader requests from the last few posts, including adding “control” foods for each category (regular, non-low carb versions). Some of the best tasting and lowest BG impact foods have come from comments, so please keep them coming!

Lastly, I’ll be kicking off a new study next week looking at the effect of acid on metabolism of macronutrients. Most readers have probably heard the BS around apple cider vinegar, but there’s a fair amount of peer-reviewed literature showing an effect of acids on blood glucose and metabolism (nothing magical, but measureable). There’s a fair amount of dispute around the mechanism, what types of macronutrients are affected, and whether it affects both diabetics and non-diabetics. A reader reached out to me about collaborating to test the effect, so we’re going to try to sort it out (keeping anonymous until/unless I’m given permission to name). We’re finalizing the protocol, after which I’ll post on our literature review, pre-registration of protocol and analysis, and then results when we have them.

Active & Planned Experiments

• Blood Glucose Impact of Low-Carb Foods
  • Goal: Determine blood glucose impact of low-carb foods and ingredients
  • Approach: Protocol
  • Status:
    • This week: 4 commenter requests (Two Good yogurt, Julian Bakery bread, and “control” tortillas & ice cream (non-low carb, for comparison)) and 3 chocolates.
    • Reported:
      • Ketochow
      • Tortillas
      • Cereal
      • MSG
      • Ice Cream
      • Bread
    • Up next:
      • Commenter requests (9/18)
      • Chocolate (9/25)
• Blood Glucose Impact of Supplements
  • Goal: Determine blood glucose impact and mechanism of promising supplements
  • Approach: tbd
  • Status:
    • This week: literature review, determining protocol
    • Reported:
      • Nothing yet
    • Up next:
      • Literature review (9/18)
      • Pre-registration of protocol and analyses (9/18)
• Methods of Sleeping Longer
  • Melatonin

Let me know in the comments if there’s any other experiments you’d like to see.

– QD

Observations & Data