glycemic index

 Glycemic index of diets: importance beyond diabetes control

Glycemic Index 

The concept of ‘Glycemic Index’ was first proposed by Prof. David Jenkins of the University of Toronto in 1981. 

The glycemic index (GI) of a food refers to the property of the food to increase the blood glucose level and is a measure of the ‘quality’ of carbohydrates. 

Glucose or white bread is used as the comparator. 

The GI of glucose is taken as 100 and the GI of other foods is given as a percentage of this. 

Thus, the GI of foods is classified 

as 

• low GI (less than 55), 
• medium GI (56- 69) 
• and high GI (over 70). 

glycemic load (GL) 

The GI multiplied by the amount of the carbohydrate consumed, determines the glycemic load (GL).

 beneficial if low GI 

Many nutritionists strongly believe in the deleterious / bad effect of consuming diets with high GI and conversely the beneficial effects of taking diets with low GI.

 but some says carbohydrate is only one of the macronutrients of food and the quality of protein and fat are ignored if only GI is used to assess the quality of a diet.

Existing evidence

support for growing importance of the GI and GL of diets

1 The link between high GI and GL diets to the risk of type 2 diabetes has been established recently.

2  However, what is less known is the association of high GI diets with cardiovascular disease and mortality.

 association of the GI and GL of diets with cardiovascular disease 

In a paper published in theNew England Journal of Medicinein 2021, we looked at the association of the GI and GL of diets with cardiovascular disease.

We reported that diets with high GI were associated with major cardiovascular events including deaths across all ethnicities.

 This was an eye opener regarding the importance of the GI of foods because until this study was published, it was not known that the importance of GI extends beyond diabetes.

These findings are particularly relevant

to India and South Asia where carbohydrate consumption in the form of high GI white rice or wheat, forms the bulk of calories, leading to very high GL of our diets.

Hence all attempts should be made to reduce the GI and GL of our diets

1  This could help, not only in the prevention and control of diabetes but also in reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease which occurs at much younger ages in our country.

2 Examples of diets with low GI include 

• brown rice, 
• steel cut oats,
•  legumes, 
• pulses and beans, 
• fruits like apple and guava,
•  vegetables like spinach, lettuce, brinjal, broccoli, tomatoes, paneer, soya, nuts and seeds.

भूरे रंग के चावल,

स्टील कट ओट्स,

 फलियाँ,

दालें और फलियाँ,

सेब और अमरूद जैसे फल,

 पालक, सलाद, बैंगन, ब्रोकोली, टमाटर, पनीर, सोया, मेवे और बीज जैसी सब्जियाँ।

Diets with high GI include 

• sugar and sweets, 
• white rice, 
• maida, 
• potato, 
• white bread, 
• sweetened drinks, 
• jaggery, 
• cornflakes and cookies.

what we can do ? 

If diets with high GI, i.e., the ‘bad’ carbohydrates, are replaced with ‘good’ carbs which have low GI 

and this is combined with adequate physical activity (exercise), it could help to curb the growing incidence of premature cardiovascular disease in India.

source the hindu

source the hindu