A discovery from Stanford University is revolutionizing how we understand food and metabolism. Dr. Michael Snyder, Professor of Genetics at Stanford School of Medicine, has uncovered why identical foods can have drastically different effects on different people’s blood sugar levels.
In his laboratory’s recent research, Dr. Snyder and his team identified distinct categories of people they call “potato spikers” versus “grape spikers.” These are individuals whose insulin responds dramatically differently to various carbohydrates.
As Dr. Snyder explains on the Huberman Lab podcast, “Some people spike to bananas, some to potatoes, some to pasta, some to white bread, some to brown bread. And so this was shown by Aaron Seagull’s lab at the Weissman and our lab had found something similar. And it’s very personal.”
This discovery challenges everything we thought we knew about nutrition guidelines. The traditional glycemic index, which ranks foods by their impact on blood sugar, turns out to depend entirely on who you are. “Things like the glycemic index, which we may be familiar with because they are essentially a readout of how much a given food impacts blood sugar, depends on who you are,” Dr. Snyder notes.
The research reveals that people’s glucose responses are determined by multiple factors working together. According to Dr. Snyder’s findings, approximately 20-30% of your glucose response is determined by your microbiome, about 20% by your genetics, and the rest by lifestyle factors. This explains why one person might be able to enjoy pizza without any blood sugar spike, while another person experiences a dramatic glucose excursion from the same meal.
Dr. Snyder’s team has also identified different diabetes subtypes that affect how people respond to foods. “We can subtype people according to what their glucose regulation is and that affects how you react to foods,” he explains. Some people have muscle insulin resistance, others have beta cell defects, and still others have different forms of glucose dysregulation that determine their unique food responses.
The most exciting aspect of this research is its practical application. Using continuous glucose monitors, now available over-the-counter, people can discover their personal food responses in real-time. “You put these on your arm and they measure your glucose every five minutes so you can see exactly what’s going on,” Dr. Snyder describes.
The research has already led to actionable interventions. For people who do experience glucose spikes, a 15-20 minute brisk walk after eating can significantly reduce the spike. Even simple activities like seated calf raises can help muscles act as “glucose sponges” to manage blood sugar levels.
Dr. Snyder’s laboratory has developed ways to predict which foods will spike glucose in different individuals, potentially allowing people to customize their diets based on their unique metabolic profile rather than following one-size-fits-all dietary guidelines.
