Ask The Expert
Eating Well

Several companies have designed diabetes snack bars containing uncooked cornstarch to aid in preventing hypoglycemia (especially at night) while lessening the rise in blood glucose after meals or snacks.

Uncooked cornstarch has been shown to break down in the body very slowly, meaning that it converts to glucose slowly, thus preventing the rapid rise in blood glucose, and also providing a sustained supply of glucose for 6 hours or more.

In contrast, products that include resistant starch and fiber were designed to help blunt the post-meal glycemic response. You can read more about these products on the website listed below.

Cautions and Implications:

Clinical Diabetes, Volume 19, #1, 2001, made several recommendations, including the following:

• Do not use these products to treat hypoglycemia, as they are not formulated to act quickly enough to alleviate the symptoms of hypoglycemia.
• Generally, snack bars with uncooked cornstarch were designed to be used at bedtime to prevent nighttime hypoglycemia. The other snack bars listed are meant to prevent hyperglycemia during the day, and thus might not be effective to prevent nighttime hypoglycemia.
• These products should not be viewed as interchangeable, even when the carbohydrate content is similar. The glycemic effect of snack bars depends on the various types of ingredients: uncooked cornstarch, resistant starch, fiber, sugar alcohols, etc.
• Diabetic snack bars might assist some people with weight control by providing convenient, portion-controlled food with limited calories. Furthermore, they might prevent weight gain by preventing hypoglycemia, and thereby eliminating the excess calories eaten when treating hypoglycemia.
• These products are not intended to provide the fast-acting glucose sometimes needed before exercise, but rather they may be useful to give a slow, sustained release of glucose.

Before deciding to use any of these products, be sure to carefully read the product label, and discuss this with your diabetes team. Your healthcare team should help you evaluate your own glycemic response, to determine if you can incorporate these snacks into your individualized meal plan.