Sugar crash

A sugar crash or glucose crash is the term used in American popular culture to refer to a supposed sense of fatigue after consuming a large quantity of carbohydrates. It is variously described as a sense of tiredness, lethargy, irritation, or hangover. Needless to say, this has nothing to do whatsoever with a vehicular accident.

Such a phenomenon has never been scientifically observed, investigated, or proven in medical literature, and is only mentioned in popular media such as televised advertisement. The alleged mechanism for it would be that the rapid rise in blood glucose normally leads to brisk insulin secretion, which in turn leads to rapid glucose uptake by tissues (which then either accumulate it as glycogen or use it for energy production); the consequent fall in blood glucose is indicated as the reason for the "sugar crash".

See also