Accounts of blood sugar surging to 200 after eating jeyuk-bokkeum (stir-fried spicy pork) appear regularly online. Because pork is the main ingredient, many regard the dish as a protein source rather than a blood-sugar concern. But specialists warn that the seasoning itself is structured to drive blood sugar up sharply.
According to the medical community on Tuesday, Lee Jin-bok, a family medicine specialist and clinic director, said, "Jeyuk-bokkeum seasoning contains substantial amounts of sugar, starch syrup, oligosaccharide and gochujang." He explained, "The sugars in this seasoning are absorbed directly without going through digestion, raising blood sugar quickly."
Gochujang in particular contains about 51.8 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams, of which 21.8 grams are sugars. When it is used together with sugar and starch syrup during cooking, the blood-sugar response differs greatly from eating meat alone.
Woo Chang-yoon, an endocrinology specialist and clinic director, stressed, "If you eat seasoning containing gochujang, sugar and starch syrup along with white rice, blood sugar can climb as high as 200." He added, "Diabetics and people on diets should recognize jeyuk-bokkeum not as a simple protein side dish but as a seasoned side dish mixed with sugar."
For a healthy person, blood sugar two hours after a meal should not exceed 140, and even for a diabetic, exceeding 200 is considered a state requiring management. The combination of jeyuk-bokkeum and white rice can cross this threshold in one go.
A blood sugar spike refers to the phenomenon in which blood sugar surges sharply after a meal and then repeatedly drops to hypoglycemia. During this process, the pancreas oversecretes insulin, and over the long term it raises insulin resistance, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes. Repeated blood sugar spikes also lead to blood vessel wall damage and inflammatory responses.
To manage blood sugar while enjoying jeyuk-bokkeum, changing the order of eating is effective. This means eating plenty of vegetables before the meat. Consuming lettuce salad or seasoned vegetables first can slow the subsequent absorption of sugars. Simply replacing white rice with multigrain rice mixed with oats or brown rice helps reduce the rise in blood sugar.
Lee said, "Taking a light walk 20 to 30 minutes after a meal helps prevent a blood sugar peak, as the ingested glucose is consumed as energy in the muscles." Using commercially available low-sugar gochujang, or replacing sugar and starch syrup with allulose, which has a low impact on blood sugar, are also alternatives recommended by experts.
