The glycemic index is of particular interest to people with diabetes, as they need to monitor the carbohydrate contents of their food. Different foods have different effects on blood sugar levels, and these effects are quantified by the glycemic index and glycemic load. But what does this mean?
Glycemic index (GI) indicates how drastically a food makes your blood sugar levels rise on a scale of 0 to 100. Pure glucose (sugar) has a value of 100, which means the GI would rise very fast when eating sugar. The lower the GI of a food, the slower the blood sugar levels would rise when eaten.
While the GI count indicates how fast the blood sugar levels would rise, it does not indicate how high the blood sugar levels would go. The impact of a food can only be fully understood when you know how quickly it makes glucose enter the bloodstream and how much glucose it will deliver. The measure that indicates both is called the glycemic load.
The advantage for people with diabetes are that once the glycemic index and glycemic load of a specific food are known, it would be easier to avoid sudden spikes in blood sugar levels. Sticking to low glycemic index/load eating habits is likely to be beneficial for people with diabetes.
Source:
“The lowdown on glycemic index and glycemic load.” Published online on 27 October 2016 by Harvard Medical School.
HEALTH INSIGHT
MARCH 2017
