Glycemic index diet: Whats behind the claims

A glycemic index diet is an eating plan based on how foods affect your blood sugar level.

The glycemic index is a system of assigning a number to carbohydrate-containing foods according to how much each food increases blood sugar. The glycemic index itself is not a diet plan but one of various tools — such as calorie counting or carbohydrate counting — for guiding food choices.

The term "glycemic index diet" usually refers to a specific diet plan that uses the index as the primary or only guide for meal planning. Unlike some other plans, a glycemic index diet doesn't necessarily specify portion sizes or the optimal number of calories, carbohydrates, or fats for weight loss or weight maintenance.

Many popular commercial diets, diet books and diet websites are based on the glycemic index, including the Zone Diet, Sugar Busters and the Slow-Carb Diet.

Purpose

The purpose of a glycemic index (GI) diet is to eat carbohydrate-containing foods that are less likely to cause large increases in blood sugar levels. The diet is a means to lose weight and prevent chronic diseases related to obesity such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Why you might follow the GI diet

You might choose to follow the GI diet because you:

• Want to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight
• Need help planning and eating healthier meals
• Need help maintaining blood sugar levels as part of a diabetes treatment plan

The scientific evidence supporting the role of the GI diet in weight loss is mixed. You might be able to achieve the same health benefits by eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight and getting enough exercise.

Check with your doctor or health care provider before starting any weight-loss diet, especially if you have any health conditions, including diabetes.

The glycemic index

The GI principle was first developed as a strategy for guiding food choices for people with diabetes. An international GI database is maintained by Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Services in Sydney, Australia. The database contains the results of studies conducted there and at other research facilities around the world.

A basic overview of carbohydrates, blood sugar and GI values is helpful for understanding glycemic index diets.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates, or carbs, are a type of nutrient in foods. The three basic forms are sugars, starches and fiber. When you eat or drink something with carbs, your body breaks down the sugars and starches into a type of sugar called glucose, the main source of energy for cells in your body. Fiber passes through your body undigested.

Two main hormones from your pancreas help regulate glucose in your bloodstream. The hormone insulin moves glucose from your blood into your cells. The hormone glucagon helps release glucose stored in your liver when your blood sugar (blood glucose) level is low. This process helps keep your body fueled and ensures a natural balance in blood glucose.

Different types of carbohydrates have properties that affect how quickly your body digests them and how quickly glucose enters your bloodstream.

Understanding GI values

There are various research methods for assigning a GI value to food. In general, the number is based on how much a food item raises blood glucose levels in healthy research participants compared with how much pure glucose raises their blood glucose. GI values are generally divided into three categories:

• Low GI: 1 to 55
• Medium GI: 56 to 69
• High GI: 70 and higher

For example, raw carrots have a GI value of 35. This means that if you eat enough carrots to consume 1.8 ounces (50 grams) of digestible carbohydrates (sugars and starches), your blood glucose level after eating the carrots will be 35 percent of the blood glucose level after eating 1.8 ounces (50 grams) of pure glucose.

Comparing these values, therefore, can help guide healthier food choices. For example, an English muffin made with white wheat flour has a GI value of 77. A whole-wheat English muffin has a GI value of 45.

Limitations of GI values

One limitation of GI values is that they don't reflect the likely quantity you would eat of a particular food.

For example, watermelon has a GI value of 80, which would put it in the category of food to avoid. But watermelon has relatively few digestible carbohydrates in a typical serving. In other words, you have to eat a lot of watermelon to consume the standard test level of 1.8 ounces (50 grams) of digestible carbohydrates.

To address this problem, researchers have developed the idea of glycemic load (GL), a numerical value that indicates the change in blood glucose levels when you eat a typical serving of the food. For example, a 4.2-ounce (120-gram) serving of watermelon has a GL value of 5, which would identify it as a healthy food choice. For comparison, a 2.8-ounce (80-gram) serving of raw carrots has a GL value of 2.

Sydney University's table of GI values also includes GL values. The values are generally grouped in the following manner:

• Low GL: 1 to 10
• Medium GL: 11 to 19
• High GL: 20 or more

Other issues

A GI value tells us nothing about other nutritional information. For example, whole milk has a GI value of 31 and a GL value of 4 for a 1-cup (250-milliliter) serving. But because of its high fat content, whole milk is a poor choice for weight loss or weight control.

The published GI database is not an exhaustive list of foods, but a list of those foods that have been studied. Many healthy foods with low GI values are not in the database.

The GI value of any food item is affected by several factors, including how the food is prepared, how it is processed and what other foods are eaten at the same time.

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