# Hypoglycemia

Category: Conditions

Also known as: reactive hypoglycemia, low blood sugar

Hypoglycemia is fundamentally a symptom of low thyroid function and impaired liver metabolism, not a primary disease of the pancreas. Broda Barnes, whose work Peat frequently cited, argued that the liver provides three-quarters of the body's active thyroid hormone, and without…

11 passages · 4 authors · 1976–2026 · Most-cited: [Ray Peat](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/voices/ray-peat/index.md)

Canonical page: https://bioenergeticoracle.com/concepts/hypoglycemia

## Synthesis

**Hypoglycemia** is fundamentally a symptom of *low thyroid function* and impaired liver metabolism, not a primary disease of the pancreas. [Source 2, 4] Broda Barnes, whose work Peat frequently cited, argued that the liver provides three-quarters of the body's active thyroid hormone, and without adequate glucose, this conversion fails, creating a vicious cycle where **hypothyroidism** perpetuates the hypoglycemic state. [Source 1, 7] Peat emphasized that the liver is the most important organ for maintaining normal blood sugar, and its failure to store or release glycogen—often due to thyroid deficiency—is the central defect. [Source 3, 11] Barnes demonstrated clinically that when hypothyroid patients received thyroid therapy, their hypoglycemic symptoms disappeared and they could eat normal diets again. [Source 2, 11]

The mechanism involves the liver's dual role in glucose homeostasis. After a meal, the liver stores glucose as glycogen; as blood sugar falls, it must release this stored glucose and manufacture new glucose from protein. [Source 3] In hypothyroidism, digestion and absorption are delayed, and the liver becomes sluggish, failing to release glucose properly as blood sugar begins to fall. [Source 11] Peat explained that stress hormones like **cortisol** and **estrogen** exacerbate the problem by promoting *glycogenolysis* (the breakdown of glycogen) and shifting metabolism toward fat oxidation, which poisons mitochondrial energy production. [Source 5, 7] Dinkov has written that estrogen prevents hypoglycemia through a "very bad mechanism"—stimulating lipolysis and fat oxidation—rather than supporting proper liver glycogen storage, and recommends substances like **niacinamide**, aspirin, and vitamin E to help the liver recover its glycogen-storing capacity. [Source 9]

Peat described hypoglycemia as a state of *pseudohypoxia*, where limited glucose oxidation forces cells into a reductive stress state that activates excitatory systems, including the release of glutamate and activation of the NMDA receptor. [Source 10] This excitation can cause grand mal seizures, hypertension, vasospasm, and other excitatory processes, while also activating inflammatory pathways. [Source 10] He noted that lowering blood sugar activates the inflammatory process, and that doubling blood sugar can stop allergic reactions to almost everything, meaning every hypoglycemic episode stresses the immune system and activates stress hormones that compensate by turning protein into sugar. [Source 8] When blood sugar falls, consciousness itself is threatened because glucose is the material that maintains coherent brain function; under hypoglycemic stress, nervous processes enter an emergency state where only immediate present concerns are relevant, producing the anxiety and flattened consciousness characteristic of the condition. [Source 6]

The quickest way to break the cycle, Peat argued, is a well-balanced diet emphasizing fruit, particularly orange juice, because its high **potassium** content allows the body to handle and absorb blood sugar without disturbing insulin. [Source 7] When the liver receives enough sugar from the combination of potassium and sugar in fruit, it can activate thyroid hormone, restoring poisoned mitochondrial function and bringing a person out of a chronic allergic hypoglycemic state, sometimes in just a day or two. [Source 7] He noted that eating a pound of sugar over three days can sometimes replenish glycogen stores in all tissues, including the liver, where it is used to activate thyroid hormone. [Source 1, 8] Barnes observed that the conventional treatment—a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet with frequent small feedings—offered symptomatic relief but no cure, whereas addressing the underlying hypothyroidism resolved the condition permanently. [Source 2, 11] Roddy has reinforced this, noting that for people with poor liver function, nighttime hypoglycemia often cannot be solved with food alone and requires investigating thyroid function. [Source 5]

## People also ask

### How does low thyroid function cause hypoglycemia?

Peat argued that hypothyroidism impairs the liver's ability to store and release glycogen, and without adequate glucose the liver fails to convert thyroid hormone, creating a vicious cycle where low blood sugar and low thyroid function perpetuate each other.

### Why does Peat recommend orange juice for hypoglycemia?

Peat suggested that the combination of sugar and potassium in orange juice allows the body to absorb blood sugar without disturbing insulin, helping the liver activate thyroid hormone and restore proper glycogen storage, sometimes breaking the hypoglycemic cycle within days.

### What role do stress hormones play in hypoglycemia?

The corpus describes how cortisol and estrogen exacerbate hypoglycemia by promoting glycogen breakdown and shifting metabolism toward fat oxidation, which poisons mitochondrial energy production rather than supporting healthy liver glycogen storage.

## Related concepts

- [Anxiety](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/anxiety/index.md)
- [Depression](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/depression/index.md)
- [Diabetes](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/diabetes/index.md)
- [Glycogen](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/glycogen/index.md)
- [Hypothyroidism](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/hypothyroidism/index.md)
- [Metformin](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/metformin/index.md)

## Cited passages

Passage numbers match the `[Source N]` markers in the synthesis above.

### Source 1 — Diabetes Type 1 KMUD the Herb Doctors 2014

Ray Peat · Interview · 2014

> **Caller:** You expect that to be all related to my intense craving during those years for lots of sugar, like donuts and chilled Cola for lunch.
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yeah, that’s the natural thing. Like in pregnancy, when women needs sugar. Or premenstrually. Same thing happens. When your blood sugar falls, you crave sugar. And if your thyroid is just temporarily depressed by stress, eating a pound of sugar over a period of 3 days will sometimes replenish the glycogen stores in all of your tissues, including the liver, where the liver uses it to activate the thyroid hormone.
>
> **Caller:** To get back to the original point, the stress then, besides being an adolescent (and I’m now almost 35 and I still got the acne), the stress then to that comes from the unsaturated fat ?
>
> **Ray Peat:** That’s probably the most common reason for it. Many kinds of stress can bring it on, but I think that’s the most common cause (currently). And there’s a really great book by Broda Barnes called “Hypoglycemia: it’s your liver not your mind”, he was one of the first people to point out that the liver provides 3/4 of our active thyroid hormone. And to do that, it needs glucose. And without the active thyroid hormone, you tend to get hypoglycemia.

### Source 2 — Hope for Hypoglycemia

Broda Barnes · Book · 1989

> If the patient has hypoglycemia, symptoms are going to appear and glucose solution should be available for oral administration. In extreme cases intravenous glucose should be available and administered if necessary.
>
> This test measures what one wants to know — can the individual meet emergencies of hypoglycemia? For all practical purposes the blood sugar determinations can be omitted. There will be no doubt that symptoms of hypoglycemia will appear if the subject is vulnerable, and one should not let the symptoms persist very long until glucose is administered. In a matter of one hour the test is over with no major expense. This simple, inexpensive test should satisfy the purists who must have a test for every diagnosis. It will probably move many alleged anxiety reactions to the category of hypoglycemia.
>
> Personally, I feel that even the intravenous insulin tolerance test is superfluous. As pointed out in previous chapters, 95 percent of the hypoglycemias are of the reactive type, and those I have seen are suffering from hypothyroidism; the low blood sugar is only one of the many symptoms. To date, when the symptoms of hypothyroidism are relieved, hypoglycemia, like the others, disappears. The diagnosis of hypothyroidism can be made from a careful history and physical examination better than it can from laboratory procedures. I routinely use the Basal Temperature test to confirm suspicions of hypothyroidism. The thyroid therapy for these individuals makes many friends and keeps a huge number of patients away from the overcrowded roles of “anxiety reactions.” If the armpit temperature before arising in the morning is below 97.8 degree Fahrenheit and the patient has symptoms and physical findings of hypothyroidism including hypoglycemia, he will receive thyroid therapy in my office. Many of these patients have been refused thyroid therapy elsewhere because the blood tests were normal. The patients did not go to the doctor for an erroneous laboratory test, but they came with symptoms and they appreciate relief from their many complaints.
>
> In summary, a diagnosis of hypoglycemia can be made without major expense in both time and money. Since hypoglycemia is only one of the many symptoms of hypothyroidism, attention should be focused on the cause of the low blood sugar. Relief of the cause is soon followed by cure.

### Source 3 — Hope for Hypoglycemia

Broda Barnes · Book · 1989

> As soon as a meal begins to digest and to be absorbed from the intestines, the blood sugar rises due to the carbohydrate in the food. This signals two changes: first, insulin is released from the pancreas in order to store the new supply of sugar and to aid in the formation of fat; second, because of the rise in blood sugar, the liver (1) ceases making more glucose from protein and (2) ceases releasing the stored glucose in the liver. For some time the body derives its glucose from the meal. When digestion and absorption are completed, the blood sugar begins to fall toward the fasting level again. The pancreas ceases the release of extra insulin which is no longer needed. The liver must again start furnishing glucose to the blood. However, it is not an electrical signal that immediately turns on the liver similar to the electronic gadget that turns a radar range off at a specified time. The liver must have a signal, and that turns out to be a decline in the blood sugar slightly below the normal range. Then the liver again starts releasing and manufacturing glucose. It becomes obvious that everyone has mild hypoglycemia sometime after each meal, or even after each snack between meals. If the liver is functioning normally, this drop in blood sugar is so small that no symptoms arise, and the individual is not conscious of any fluctuations of the blood sugar.
>
> ## Chapter 4: The Multiple Causes of Hypoglycemia
>
> Hypoglycemia was first recognized as the result of overdoses of insulin to diabetics. Obviously too much insulin can lower the blood glucose level to the point that serious symptoms develop. It was only natural for Harris, who first noted hypoglycemia in non-diabetics, to assume that the individuals were producing too much insulin. Before long a patient was found with a tumor of the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas which produced insulin continuously day and night. Relief was only obtained when the tumor was surgically removed. Such cases are rare; less than one thousand have been reported in the medical literature of the world during the past 50 years. Many doctors including myself have never seen such a case during their years of practice.
>
> It was mentioned above that the liver not only stores glucose during digestion but also releases the stored glucose when needed. Furthermore, if glucose is in short supply, the liver can produce huge quantities from proteins and a smaller amount from fats.

### Source 4 — Bioenergetic Helpline #12: Optimal Nutrition, Postpartum Hair Loss, Night Sweats, Thyroid Tolerance

Danny Roddy · Interview · Feb 20, 2026 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH2Xx8toBhw

> **Caller:** Yeah, I have been doing that consistently, but it still happens right before my period. And no matter what I've done, I eat consistently, I've upped my calories, I've gained a bit of weight, but it's still there.
>
> **Danny Roddy:** The other thing would be Broda Barnes wrote a book called A Hope for Hypoglycemia. It's not your mind, it's your liver. And he's talking about how the thyroid regulates the liver's function. And so when you're asleep, your blood sugar can become extremely low and then cause that phenomenon we just talked about. And so if you just could not fix it with diet, I'd probably investigate your thyroid function.
>
> **Caller:** yeah i've been working on my thyroid i'm taking t4 and t3 one to one ratio approximately and i do feel better like in my day i have a lot more energy i generally feel more alive than i did before but i still like that's that's like the last thing that i still can't figure out no matter what i do how i play around my calories what i eat before i sleep it's still like a persistent thing what was the book that you were talking about sorry

### Source 5 — Bioenergetic Helpline #8: Estrogen Increases Androgens? Nighttime Hypoglycemia, CO2 Baths, Parasites

Danny Roddy · Interview · Jan 15, 2026 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pukko_Uv0nU

> **Danny Roddy:** I think in the last General Energy, we talk about T3 and progesterone being necessary for glycogenesis, like the storage of sugar in the liver. And every stress hormone causes the opposite, glycogenolysis, like the breakdown of glycogen, and especially estrogen. it's definitely a big time symptom that something's going real wrong and and obviously that blood sugar is way too low that's crazy i mean i i don't get a lot of data from people in the middle of the night but that's i mean if that's happening to a lot of people that's crazy
>
> **Caller:** yeah again i just thought it would be useful to share i think if someone's struggling with hypoglycemic or struggling with insomnia they might want to investigate hypoglycemia yeah this person's eating carbs so it's like either it's not a uh it's not necessarily just a carb deficit problem it's
>
> **Danny Roddy:** probably more yeah exactly like because uh before i really dialed in the center plus i would there was a few times i had a cup of sugar right before bed and i still woke up and so it's it's yeah i don't think it can be so for some people with maybe bad liver function i don't think it can be solved with just food i mean this is why i'm the way i am like just not totally exclusive on diet

### Source 6 — Memory, Cognition & Nutrition

Ray Peat · Interview · 2014

> **Andrew Murray:** Probably some of the reason why psychologists want you lying on the couch (laughter) whilst they conduct their enquiry?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yeah - and when you are under stress, glucose is the immediate source of energy – well, electrons are probably the immediate source of carbon dioxide produced from the glucose - act to modify the electronic properties of your cell so that it can perform these resonant coherent interactions - but glucose is the material that keeps that conscious process possible. And if you are under stress and are using your glucose too fast or don't have enough of it available, then your nervous processes go into an emergency state where only the here and now, the immediate present and location, are relevant - and so anxiety associated with hypoglycemia or stress will flatten the way your consciousness works and it might give you quick reactions, but they aren’t necessarily going to be the most interesting reactions.
>
> **Andrew Murray:** OK – so, once again, we’re touting glucose as positive, helpful, creative, energetic when constantly, I can't believe the amount of times I see adverts for low sugar this, low sugar that, and hear people talking about how bad sugar is, it does this and it does that and it causes cancer, and it’s completely the opposite. I don’t know how people can be so brainwashed.

### Source 7 — Hope For Health: Hope for Health: Thyroid

Ray Peat · Interview · Oct 31, 2008 · http://l-i-g-h-t.com/files/hope-for-health-thyroid-56-mins.mp4

> ## Hypoglycemia and Thyroid Function
>
> **Dr. Dan Royal:** What about reactive hypoglycemia, where patients eat something that raises their blood sugar and then it drops over a short period? Are these patients more susceptible to allergies?
>
> **Ray Peat:** It can become a vicious circle. Normally, when you are exposed to a stress or an allergen, you put out a little extra cortisol to improve your immunity and lower inflammation. But that can start suppressing your thyroid function and lowering your liver's detoxifying ability. Your intestine always has allergens in it. The chronic exposure to cortisol, suppressing your liver and thyroid function, allows those toxins and allergens from your intestine to get into the bloodstream. Endotoxin is a basic substance produced by bacteria in the intestine, and that poisons our energy-producing systems. It almost turns off mitochondrial function, which wastes blood sugar. You can create hypoglycemia by exposing yourself to too many of these stresses. The quickest way to break out of the cycle is to eat a well-balanced natural diet, emphasizing a lot of fruits—orange juice, for example—because of the high potassium content. Potassium lets you handle and absorb blood sugar without disturbing your insulin. When your liver is receiving enough sugar from the combination of potassium and sugar in the fruit, it is able to activate the thyroid hormone, restoring the poisoned function of your mitochondria. It can bring you out of a chronic allergic hypoglycemic state and get you back to a steady blood sugar, sometimes in just a day or two.

### Source 8 — Diabetes Type 1 KMUD the Herb Doctors 2014

Ray Peat · Interview · 2014

> **Ray Peat:** Yes, the glucose is essential for the baby’s brain development. And many older gynecologists and obstetricians knew that diabetic women had the brightest babies. Even hugely fat women who had diabetes, and were not in good health themselves, often produced extremely healthy babies.
>
> **Herb Doctor:** You’ve mentioned that intelligence was also higher in diabetic women because specifically of the increased blood sugar ?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yeah.
>
> **Caller:** And not to dwell on that too much, because that is a secondary point; my main point was into the diabetes thing, and my hypoglycemia, specifically. When I was younger, a teenager, I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia, along with having really bad acne. And through this conversation, I realized a couple things; one, it could all be tied back to the amount of unsaturated fat I was consuming as a child. If all that was blocking up my ability to even process the glucose, I may have had some hypoglycemic symptoms at the same time my body is trying to like just stop and coagulate (?) around every obstacles.
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yeah. A man named Adamkiewicz, about 30 or 40 years ago, showed that lowering blood sugar activates the inflammatory process. And doubling the blood sugar will stop allergies to almost everything,. So, every episode of hypoglycemia is stressing your immune system as well as activating the stress hormones that compensate by turning protein into sugar.

### Source 9 — Serotonin Industry Lies & Fraud

Georgi Dinkov · Interview · Nov 11, 2022

> **Georgi Dinkov:** So basically when the cells need glucose, the first thing that should happen in a healthy person is the liver should release some glycogen because that's where it's mostly stored. Muscles can also store a decent amount of glycogen, but it's mostly in the liver. If your liver is diseased and cannot store as much glycogen because it's full of fat, then basically the cells can only rely on what's outside. And if they metabolize the glucose, right, then they run out of glucose. And if the liver cannot provide it, you get hypoglycemia response.

### Source 10 — Sugar, stress and the degenerative diseases

Ray Peat · Newsletter · 2017

> Lactate is produced when a cell is in a reducing state (with a higher ratio of NADH to NAD+), relatively deprived of oxygen, and it can transfer the reductive condition to other cells, acting as a transmitter. The NMDA receptor (like many other regulatory proteins, e.g., COX, TLR, NOS, aromatase) is activated by reduction of its thiol groups. The reductive state, which activates this excitatory system, can be produced by an actual oxygen deficiency, but also by inhibiting mitochondrial function, creating a state of "pseudohypoxia."
>
> I think this connection between lactate and the glutamatergic system that's involved in excitotoxicity provides an insight into the basic nature of stress. Stress exists to the degree that cells are shifted into a reductive, pseudohypoxic state, by an imbalance between stimulation and the rate of restorative oxidative metabolism. Starvation and diabetes, in which glucose oxidation is limited, and amino acids and fatty acids are used for fuel, are pseudohypoxic states, forming lactic acid from both glucose and glutamine. Hypoglycemia, besides causing unconsciousness and shock, can cause grand mal seizures, hypertension, vasospasm, and other excitatory processes, by leading to the release of glutamate and the activation of the NMDA system. This excitation creates reductive stress, resembling that in cancer cells, with the activation of the regulatory proteins, including HIF (the hypoxia inducible factor), that reinforce that state of inflammation and lactate production. Providing extra glucose can lower the HIF. The reductive state, resulting from starvation or hypoglycemia, or an excess of lactate or fat, or oxygen deprivation, activates the release of glutamate, and the excitation produced by that can shut off mitochondrial oxidation, reinforcing the state of pseudohypoxia. Nitric oxide synthesis, activated by reductive stress, is a major factor in the suppression of mitochondrial oxidation.
>
> In the excessively electron-rich intracellular environment, iron is activated, and a variety of enzymes directly reduce and activate oxygen (Korge, et al., 2015, 2016). These reactive oxidative molecules damage all kinds of cellular structure, including DNA, and lead to some of the stress-related events such as heart attacks and strokes.

### Source 11 — Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness

Broda Barnes · Book · 1976

> When the patients were treated wdth thyroid, the glucose tolerance tests showed normal blood sugar levels. Obviously, these patients were not diabetic. The thyroid-deficient patient shows an inability to handle sugar rapidly which is similar to that of the true diabetic and tolerance tests will not differentiate between the two diseases. ''Brittle'' Diabetics Some diabetics are difficult to control. They may swing from insulin reaction one day to sugar in the urine and the appearance of ketone bodies shortly afterward. The ketone bodies are the result of failure to utilize carbohydrates properly which causes the body to draw on its supply of fats to so great an extent that they cannot be handled properly and their incomplete oxidation allows ketones to accumulate in blood and tissues. These are the diabetics who are known as fragile, labile, brittle, volatile, or unstable. It appears that many of them are hypothyroid and that treatment for the hypothyroidism often permits better control of the diabetes.
>
> The somewhat erratic digestion and absorption of food in the hypothyroid patient is one factor. Another is sluggishness of the liver which may occur when thyroid function is low, with the result that stored glucose in the liver is not released properly as blood sugar begins to fall.
>
> There is usually an adequate store of glucose in the liver to last until the next regular meal but, if it is not released, hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, may develop and call for extra food. Thyroid therapy improves digestion and absorption so that there is a more constant supply of nourishment in the blood; it also sensitizes the liver to the need for glucose release after digestion is complete.
>
> ### Hypoglycemia
>
> Hypoglycemia occurs in many people who do not test out to be diabetic and who have no family history of diabetes. Some investigators have thought that such people may be prediabetic, but there have been no reports of significant numbers of them later developing overt diabetes.
>
> Hypoglycemia may be tolerated for brief periods without symptoms. But if the blood sugar level remains very low for extended periods, such symptoms as sweating, shakiness, trembling, weakness, anxiety, and, occasionally, seizures or coma may develop.
>
> Treatment usually recommended for hypoglycemia is a diet high in protein and low in carbohydrate, with frequent feedings. I have seen many patients with hypoglycemia who have responded to thyroid therapy.

_Generated 2026-07-20 from the Bioenergetic Oracle corpus._