Dr. Ben Bikman explains why carbohydrates aren't essential nutrients. Your body can maintain blood glucose without eating carbs at all, contrary to what most nutrition advice claims.
One of the most misunderstood principles of human nutrition is what is essential and what isn't. For example, have you ever heard of the term essential amino acids? These would be amino acids that a human must eat in order to be healthy and survive. What about the term essential fatty acids or the fats that a person needs to eat? Yes, those exist as well. What about the essential carbohydrates? There isn't any. Of course, this is something that so many people misunderstand. They confuse dietary carbohydrate with blood that while blood glucose is needed, that does not mean we need dietary carbohydrate. There are some cells that must use glucose as a fuel, like, for example, red blood cells. Red blood cells can literally use nothing but glucose as an energy source. Thankfully, with that in mind, the liver creates all the glucose that the body needs. In fact, the molecule that the liver uses the most to recycle and turn into glucose is none other than the much maligned lactate, Lactate, not lactic ac of the most misunderstood molecules. But when it is produced mostly from working muscles, the liver will take that lactate in and convert it to glucose and release it back into the bloodstream. One of many mechanisms that explains why dietary carbohydrates are not necessary, certainly not necessary in order to maintain blood glucose.
