Robert Britt

            Author, Columnist

Glycemic Index (see video version)

      I was talking to someone about the glycemic index and they looked at me like I was from another planet. I realized that the concept wasn’t as wide spread as I had thought, so I thought I would jot down a few things to help with understanding.

The glycemic index came about as a result of trying to determine how different foods impact your blood sugar levels. The more impact the food has, the higher it is on the glycemic index. For example white bread has a GE of around 70, and oat raison bread (whole grain) has a GE of around 47. jelly beans are around 80, while cherries come in at a low 22. What does all that really mean to you?  

If you eat foods that quickly elevate your blood sugar, you may experience a sugar rush; you will then have a crash due to the roller coaster effect of that high. You will also become hungrier more quickly. Food with a low GE will not have that effect. The impact on your blood sugar level is minimal. This stability in your blood sugar levels results in a feeling of satisfaction for longer periods of time. In other words, the low GE foods are more filling and won’t cause more food cravings.

How could this affect your health? Less cravings means you will be eating less and thus consuming less calories. (Did I mention that most foods low on the GE have less calories, in addition to the other positive factors?) The obvious effect of consuming less calories is that over time, all other factors remaining constant, you will lose weight.

A scary thought is that it is predicted that 33% of children born in America today are expected to develop type two diabetes and that 50% of black and Hispanic children are expected to develop type two diabetes. This is due in part to obesity and poor eating habits and physical inactivity. Wow. Basically with a diet incorporating more lower-GE foods and some exercise, much of that could be avoided.

Another factor is nutrition. Foods today, even naturally grown, organic, unprocessed foods, do not contain the same levels of nutrients that they once did. Soil is depleted of natural fertilizers and so farmers are filling the soil with chemicals to force the crops to grow. The vegetables you eat may look healthy, but astoundingly enough the same serving of spinach that once contained over 50 milligrams of iron now contains less than 5 milligrams! To get the 400 IU’s of vitamin E set forth by the FDA as the recommended daily allowance, you would have to eat 33 pounds of spinach. No wonder the AMA changed its’ position on supplements – specifically a daily multi-vitamin.  In 2002 the AMA reversed it’s long standing position and now recommends we take a multi-vitamin to help supplement what we get from food.

I wandered off my main point of eating low glycemic foods, but sometimes the passion jumps in. If you have any questions on the glycemic index or supplementation, please drop me an e-mail; I’d be happy to address any questions that come my way.

Diabetes.net is the most neutral site for information on the glycemic index, meaning they have an easily accessable database of basic foods and their GE. Here’s the link:

 www.DiabetesNet.com

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