After eating carbs, the body turns up the 'stress signal' to blood vessels, but the vessels still open up instead of tightening—meaning the body’s normal 'squeeze' signal isn’t strong enough to block the opening.
Scientific Claim
Ingestion of a carbohydrate meal in healthy adults is associated with a 57% increase in muscle sympathetic nerve activity, despite concurrent vasodilation, indicating that sympathetic activation does not override the vasodilatory effect in skeletal muscle.
Original Statement
“Following the carbohydrate meal... a 57% increase in sympathetic activity (P < 0.001)... ingestion of a carbohydrate meal, with its attendant physiological insulinaemia, was associated with overriding skeletal muscle vasodilatation, despite an increase in sympathetic vasoconstrictor discharge to the same vascular bed.”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
overstated
Study Design Support
Design cannot support claim
Appropriate Language Strength
association
Can only show association/correlation
Assessment Explanation
The abstract implies causation with 'overriding', but the study design is observational. The correct interpretation is that these changes are associated, not that one overrides the other mechanistically.
More Accurate Statement
“Ingestion of a carbohydrate meal in healthy adults is associated with a 57% increase in muscle sympathetic nerve activity, despite concurrent vasodilation, indicating that sympathetic activation does not prevent the observed increase in skeletal muscle blood flow.”
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (0)
Contradicting (1)
Even though eating carbs made the body’s 'stress signals' to blood vessels go up, the blood vessels still widened more — meaning the widening won out, not the stress signals.