Essentials: Control Sugar Cravings & Metabolism with Science-Based Tools

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Science, Life Sciences, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 30.3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2026

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I explain how the body senses and uses sugar, and why understanding those mechanisms can help reduce sugar cravings. I discuss different types of sugar and how they are processed by pathways in the gut and the brain to shape appetite and the desire for specific foods. I also share many science-based tools to help curb sugar cravings and support healthy blood sugar regulation. Read the show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Lingo: https://hellolingo.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Sugar (00:00:37) Hunger, Hormones & Blood Glucose (00:03:03) Fructose vs Glucose, Controlling Hunger (00:06:30) Sponsor: AG1 (00:07:54) Brain Circuits: Sweet Taste & Nutritive Pathways (00:10:51) Sweet Taste & Dopamine (00:13:22) Gut & Blood Glucose; Tool: Sugar Cravings & Hidden Sugars (00:15:44) Sponsor: Lingo (00:16:53) Glycemic Index, Tool: Food Choices, Fiber & Sugar Intake (00:20:55) Glutamine Supplementation, Leaky Gut & Sugar Cravings (00:23:17) Tool: Lemon Juice to Blunt Blood Glucose (00:26:44) Sponsor: LMNT (00:28:16) Tool: Reduce Blood Sugar Cravings with Cinnamon (00:29:10) Berberine & Potent Molecules to Regulate Blood Glucose (00:30:52) Tool: Quality Sleep & Sugar Cravings Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials, where we revisit past episodes for the most potent and actionable
0:05.8	science-based tools for mental health, physical health, and performance. I'm Andrew Huberman,
0:12.7	and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, we are
0:17.8	going to discuss sugar, in particular how our nervous system regulates our sugar intake and our seeking of sugar. We are going to discuss sugar, in particular how our nervous system regulates
0:21.5	our sugar intake and our seeking of sugar.
0:24.4	We are going to place sugar into its proper context.
0:27.6	The way I wanna start off by doing that
0:29.7	is to tell you a little bit of what happens when we eat
0:32.9	and a little bit of what the brain does
0:35.4	to respond to those events.
0:37.9	So what happens when we eat?
0:39.4	Let's just take a what I call top contour view
0:42.3	of the hormonal response to ingesting food.
0:45.2	Anytime we eat, that is the consequence
0:47.3	of a number of things that happened before we ate.
0:50.4	There's a hormone in our brain and body called Grelin,
0:52.9	spelled G-H-R-E-L-I-N.
0:55.4	Grelin is a hormone that increases depending on how long it's been
0:59.8	since we ate last, okay?
1:01.6	So the longer it's been since we had a meal,
1:04.1	grelin levels are going to be higher and higher and higher.
1:07.1	And it essentially makes us hungry by interacting
	...

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