Steven Bartlett with Dr David Unwin
The episode compares the blood-sugar impact of rice, potato, unsweetened cornflakes and chocolate. For the portions shown, the chocolate bar comes out lower.
Everyday starchy foods like bread, rice, and potatoes are rapidly converted into glucose by the body, making them metabolically similar to eating sugar.
Excessive glucose consumption forces the hormone insulin to pack surplus energy into the liver as fat, which can eventually contribute to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
Traditional medical advice to simply eat less and exercise more often fails because high-carbohydrate diets can trigger biological hunger and trap patients in a cycle of cravings and fatigue.