Huberman Lab Podcast Fact Check: Walking After Meals

Huberman Lab podcast fact check time.

I was asked for my opinion on this video clip from Andrew Huberman talking to Dr. Casey Means. The topic in question was walking after meals, or postprandial exercise.

The claim is that walking after a meal has such strong research on lowering blood glucose that everyone should be doing it.

It is true, there is research showing that walking (or doing other exercise) after meals can reduce your blood glucose response compared to exercising before a meal, or exercising after a longer duration following a meal.

However, a bigger question is probably, does this matter?

In people without type 2 diabetes, hyperfocusing on blood glucose can sometimes be like majoring in the minors. For example, you can also reduce postprandial blood glucose by consuming lemon juice with a meal, but would adding lemon juice to EVERY MEAL for a whole year really do anything to transform your health?

At the moment, there is an absence of data that looks at long-term outcomes, especially in people without type 2 diabetes.

We know that exercise is great for your health.

Walking is also great, and most people need to do more of it.

But whether you *need* to do it after a meal is something that needs studying more before people get really excited.

Fair enough?

P.S. At the end of each post, I remind you that my best-selling book, ‘Everything Fat Loss’ is currently on sale as an audiobook, plus digital/print versions from Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo, Google, and Amazon with an extra 14% off in the US. Please feel free to grab it before the price goes up.

References:
- Exercising Tactically for Taming Postmeal Glucose Surges
- Targeting Postprandial Hyperglycemia With Physical Activity May Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk. But What Should We Do, and When Is the Right Time to Move?
- Immediate post-breakfast physical activity improves interstitial postprandial glycemia: a comparison of different activity-meal timings
- The Effect of Timing of Exercise and Eating on Postprandial Response in Adults: A Systematic Review
- Advice to walk after meals is more effective for lowering postprandial glycaemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus than advice that does not specify timing: a randomised crossover study
- Impact of post-meal and one-time daily exercise in patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized crossover study
- Efficacy of Postprandial Exercise in Mitigating Glycemic Responses in Overweight Individuals and Individuals with Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

[RVB_]

What means straight after eating. Within 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes of eating your last bit of food?

I learned so much from Andrew Huberman. 📈

[AlessAbreu]

Drinking limonade in the summer and walking right after lunch don't seem to be a bad thing even without this study. I'd take it

[allenm]

I like that you don’t just point out the B.S out there but also confirm or explain the correct things that have been shared. Also like the question you said at the end that should be looked at. Personal opinion I think walking or light exercise after meals is a good habit. I don’t do it often but I do see benefits for me and others.

[atquinn]

Hmm, don't know about glucose, but my wife and I walk my dog everyday after eating dinner and it's definitely good for getting the gas out 😆

[FeniksGaming]

Anything that gets people moving is great but pathologizing normal glucose levels is damaging in itself. There are people out there afraid to eat an apple or banana out of fear of becoming obese due to glucose spike that is normal.

[mastervule]

Why would we want to keep blood glucose levels low in the first place?

[discordantduck]

blood glucose has been an absolute goldmine for the health scene [g]rifters, it's not surprising there hasn't been a change in global obesity statistics since all of these mind-blowing discoveries were made

[dbaker]

Less of a “fact check” and more of a “yep it’s good but no panacea”.
Kind of like all health advice

[overkillblackjack]

Thanks, Ben. So can we reason there could be some implications for less fat being stored due to the short walk, or is that perhaps too big of a leap? I wonder if anyone has looked at that.

[mertonhirsch]

work with type 1 diabetics has shown that walking reduces post meal glucose spike, largely because insulin is circulated fast, and walking slow gastric emptying. It has a small effect on total insulin requirements over the course of a day, on the scale of maybe 2-4% per extra mile, or about 1-2% per 1000 steps, so even going from say 5000 to 10, 000 steps a day will only reduce insulin needs and exposure by 5-10% if you don't eat more to compensate

Also, based on research with type 1 diabetics, if you really want to reduce your post-prandial spike, just get in a swimming pools and move around, or jump on a trampoline. My son has T1D and if he does 3 sets of 5-10 squats with moderate weight, his spike may be 20-30 points less. Again, this may be due to circulating injected insulin or slowing gastric emptying rate.

[redbird]

Yea, but define "immediate", . Does that mean take the time to put away the dishes and change clothes then go....or go as you're swallowing your last bite? Immediate is open to interpretation.

[Trackguy]

Stan Effring said this 10-15 years ago

[hioxd]

At least it gets people to think about moving

[jorgesanabria]

Thank u for calling out these clowns. She had some clout cause she went Stanford but she’s an absolute clown.

[Enoch-Root]

So many "health influencers" out there making a big fuss about blood glucose levels... More likely to negatively affect the health of non-diabetics than to help improve your health.

Pathologising perfectly normal blood glucose levels seems to also be becoming profitable with companies now marketing continuous blood glucose monitors to non-diabetics.

[RBC]

I cannot grasp why people don't walk after meals. That feeling of being stuffed is horrible.

[DragoNate]

That's great and all, but typically immediately after eating, I'm not in the mood for any kind of exercise unless it's a quick meal and I've got to be somewhere right away (walking).

[frankquinn]

10 body weight squats for pudding it is then!😂 Congrats on the Red Pen Review of your book Ben - one of the highest scores I’ve ever seen from them. If you get past their BS detector then you must be doing something right 👍

[jaksun]

Ok so I’m not smart.
But how I’m hearing this is that you exercise after eating, using your primary fuel source, and that fuel source is lowered due to exercise. (Or- ‘using it’)
What magic am I missing here? Because it just seems logical to me that if you use something you’ll have less of it…..

[Joonzi]

So you’re not a doctor, not an expert, just a fitness guy with anecdotal evidence “fact checking” nutrition experts and neuroscientists.. The audacity of the internet man lol