Key result
Sweet or caloric drinks fail to modulate cardiac parasympathetic reactivity to slow-paced breathing vs water.
Why the study?
While hyperglycemia plays a limited role in cardiac stress reactivity, it remained unclear whether it modulates cardiac reactivity in non-stressful situations.
Does consumption of sweet and/or caloric drinks modulate cardiac autonomic reactivity (RMSSD and PEP) to slow-paced breathing in healthy adults?
RCT (n=115)
Double-blind
Random assignment within two blocks
No
Does consumption of sweet and/or caloric drinks modulate cardiac autonomic reactivity (RMSSD and PEP) to slow-paced breathing in healthy adults?
Hyperglycemia induces baseline autonomic shifts but does not significantly impair the parasympathetic increase and sympathetic decrease normally elicited by slow-paced breathing in healthy adults.
Sweet or caloric drinks do not impair parasympathetic reactivity to slow breathing in healthy adults; confirms acute autonomic resilience to glycemic load.
Cardiac reactivity is proposed to be a central indicator of autonomic functioning. While hyperglycemia plays a limited role in cardiac stress reactivity, it is unclear whether it may modulate cardiac reactivity in non-stressful situations. We investigated the effect of glucose on cardiac reactivity to a relaxing exercise, namely, slow-paced breathing (SPB). A total of 115 adults (age mean = 23.28 years, SD = 6.88; 76% female) either consumed a sweet & caloric, a sweet, a caloric drink, or pure water after baseline. Later, they performed a sustained attention test and SPB. Electrocardiography and impedance cardiography was obtained, and blood glucose and subjective relaxation were measured repeatedly. We analyzed changes in parasympathetic (root mean square of successive differences [RMSSD]) and sympathetic (pre-ejection period [PEP]) cardiac activity and subjective relaxation using growth curve models and performed correlational analyses. Hyperglycemia triggered cardiac PNS withdrawal and SNS activation. Despite this, SPB increased cardiac PNS activity and subjective relaxation and decreased cardiac SNS activity in all groups. Our results align with the autonomic space model and highlight the tight link between autonomic regulation and blood glucose homeostasis. Hyperglycemia might play a limited modulating role in cardiac reactivity to slow-paced breathing.
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Meier et al. (2025) conducted an RCT in Healthy adults (n=115). Sweet and/or caloric drinks (maltodextrin and/or sweetener) vs. Pure water was evaluated on Difference in cardiac parasympathetic activity (RMSSD) between drink groups during slow-paced breathing (p=0.268). Consumption of sweet and/or caloric drinks did not significantly modulate cardiac parasympathetic reactivity to slow-paced breathing compared to water in healthy adults.
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