Isomaltulose reduces blood glucose response and may support chronic pain modulation
Chronic pain is a persistent and complex health condition affecting 20-30% of the global population (Goldberg and McGee 2011). Two randomized, double-blind, cross-over studies explored the effects of replacing sucrose with isomaltulose in different groups suffering from chronic pain – patients with chronic low back pain (Elma et al. 2024) and breast cancer survivors with chronic pain (Yilmaz et al. 2025).
In both studies, participants consumed either 50g of sucrose or 50g of isomaltulose, followed by postprandial glucose monitoring and pain-related assessments. Across both chronic pain groups sucrose induced significantly higher blood glucose responses than in healthy controls. These heightened glucose responses correlated with:
- Increased self-reported pain intensity
- Reduced offset analgesia, indicating weaker endogenous pain inhibition
Elevated blood glucose may contribute to chronic pain by triggering oxidative stress, inflammation, and central sensitization. Chronic pain can also impact daily habits like physical activity and eating patterns, which in turn may impair blood glucose control. Replacing sucrose with isomaltulose led to a significantly greater reduction in blood glucose response, especially in patients with chronic pain. In fact, isomaltulose eliminated the difference in blood glucose response between patients and healthy controls.
These clinical studies provide early but valuable evidence that isomaltulose could be a promising tool in dietary strategies to support chronic pain management.
References
Elma Ö, Tümkaya Yılmaz S, Nijs J, Clarys P, Coppieters I, Mertens E, Malfliet A, Deliens T (2024) Impaired Carbohydrate Metabolism among Women with Chronic Low Back Pain and the Role of Dietary Carbohydrates: A Randomized Controlled Cross-Over Experiment. J Clin Med 13(7). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38610920/
Goldberg DS, McGee SJ (2011) Pain as a global public health priority. BMC Public Health 11:770. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21978149/
Yilmaz ST, Elma Ö, Malfliet A, Nijs J, Clarys P, Coppieters I, Mertens E, Naert E, Calders P, Devoogdt N, an de Groef, Deliens T (2025) Postprandial glycaemic response and pain sensitivity in breast cancer survivors suffering from chronic pain: a double-blind, randomised controlled cross-over pilot experiment. Support Care Cancer 33(2):103. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00520-024-09117-7