High Glycemic Diets May Cause Serious Health Issues

The Glycemic Index (GI) is a scale that ranks the number of carbohydrates in food from 0 to 100. It is seen that the higher the number, the faster the carbohydrates are digested. Eating foods that are high-GI can cause blood sugar levels to rapidly rise which can lead to triggering the pancreas to release more insulin and then quickly fall. A study that looked at the eating habits of almost 1,38,000 people around the world found that a diet consisting primarily of high-GI foods can increase your risk of both. The study authors said that repeating this cycle frequently could lead to weight gain and insulin resistance, factors associated with type 2 diabetes, and higher cardiovascular risk.

The carbohydrate content of the foods you eat has a profound effect on your blood sugar level, weight, and health. Researchers are studying how eating foods high in carbohydrates (GI) or low in carbohydrates (GL (Glycemic Load)) can affect your health. On April 8, 2021, they published their results in the peer-reviewed journal, The Lancet. The investigators showed that compared to those who ate low-GI diets, those who ate high-GI diets had more heart attacks and strokes and died more often. This study supports current research that shows GL keeps blood sugar levels stable and protects against metabolic syndrome a cluster of risk factors for heart disease.

What Is Glycemic Index?

The GI is used as a tool to help people choose healthful foods and monitor how much sugar and carbohydrates they eat. This approach can help someone manage their weight or a health condition such as diabetes. The glycemic index (GI) is a measurement that ranks carbohydrates according to how much they affect your blood sugar. The International Organization for Standardization makes this measurement, but many other sources also offer their own ranking system. By comparing two or more food items, you can estimate how many carbohydrates each provides and how quickly they are digested. Similarly, The American Diabetes Association provide a list of common foods and their GI. They note that some sources use white bread as a reference point instead of pure glucose. The glycemic load considers both the number of carbohydrates in a portion and its GI. This number may help you choose healthier options for food intake.

It is considered; The Glycemic Index Foundation categorizes GI of food into three categories:

• low GI is 55 or less
• medium GI is 56–69
• high GI is 70 or greater

How To Determine Glycemic Index?

When it comes to calculating the glycemic index of foods, doctors consider how healthy people’s blood sugar levels change after ingesting carb-containing foods. Glycemic index food is a comparison of carbohydrate-rich foods to pure sugar. By studying the amount of sugar in a person’s blood after they eat a certain food, doctors can determine where the food falls on a scale of zero to 100, where 100 represents pure glucose and zero is a food with no sugar at all.

The glycemic index is a rating system based on how quickly you absorb the carbs in something like juice and other foods. The glycemic index is trying to show that not everything that contains the exact same amount of grams of carbs will behave the same way in your body. You can use the information to choose the healthiest and most satisfying foods for your body.

To help you make food choices, doctors have measured glycemic index numbers only for certain foods or classes of foods. However, you can use existing data and make a good estimate for foods that are not studied.

Factors Affecting The Gi Of Food

The GIF shows the speed at which various foods within an energy range affect blood sugar levels. What it illustrates is that there are many factors that influence how fast a particular food raises someone’s blood sugar. This is one example of the many factors that influence a person’s blood chemistry, but it is important to remember that everyone’s equation is different. So, the factors which affect the glycemic index of food are:

• It tells us how refined the carbohydrate is
• Even GI talks about the physical and chemical structure of the food
• The same tells us about the cooking method used
• GI indicates to us how much fiber the food we eat contains
• About how much protein, fat, and acid the food contains

The glycemic index, or GI, is a measure of how rapidly foods raise blood sugar levels after eating. Refined and processed carbohydrates metabolize into glucose more quickly. Foods with fiber, protein, and fats release glucose more slowly, so they have a lower GI. Fiber is also good for lowering the Glycemic Index of foods since it slows down the speed at which the digestive system digests food.

Low Glycemic Diet

A low glycemic index diet helps you get more out of every bite. Eating foods with a lower glycemic index means they will cause a slower and lower rise in your blood sugar, so you can feel full long after eating and will not get hungry as quickly. And like all diets, you should stick to a plan that works for your lifestyle, rather than buying into one that feels magical or exotic. The Glycemic Index value on foods indicates the number of carbohydrates in a food relative to how much it will raise your blood sugar levels. A low glycemic index diet is a safe and healthy way to cut your weight. It is based on how well you absorb food and the rate at which sugar moves through your bloodstream. A low GI diet will give you longer-lasting energy, help you control cravings, and maintain your weight by providing slow-burning fuel for the body.

In addition, the glycemic index (GI) is a quick way to measure how fast a food’s carbohydrate turns into glucose in your bloodstream. Foods with a low GI tend to raise blood sugar less than foods with high GIs (Glycemic Index), so they help you stay fuller for longer and keep your brain from forming new insulin spikes every time you eat. However, certain kinds of foods fall into these categories, for example, foods higher in fat and protein “tend to be absorbed slower, and therefore have a lower glycemic index. But the glycemic index is not necessarily a measure that is easy to use as a nutrition guide, the way that you can with calories. And foods with a low glycemic index are not necessarily packed with nutrients.

A glycemic index is a number that represents how quickly and how much food affects blood sugar levels. Foods with a lower glycemic index are healthier, while foods with higher glycemic indexes can cause spikes in your blood sugar.

Benefits Of Low Gi

If you are following a low glycemic index diet, you are eating foods with a lower glycemic index. This means that they cause fewer spikes in your blood sugar levels, which can help improve your overall health and prevent certain illnesses. “There is increasing evidence that foods with a low glycemic index can reduce your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes,”. “If you already have diabetes, it could potentially reduce the risk of long-term complications. Other studies show that it is beneficial for certain cholesterol levels.

Eating a diet with high glycemic index foods may up your risk for Type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance: “It can definitely contribute to weight gain, and then the complications that go along with that, such as stress on the cardiovascular system,”.

If you are already on insulin and drastically change the way you eat without changing insulin dosages, this might put you at increased risk for low blood sugar. Additionally, if your cholesterol increases after going on a low-carb diet (for example, the keto diet), a low glycemic index diet also might not be the best choice.

Disadvantages Of Low Gi

If you want to eat a healthy diet, it is important to read food labels and understand the glycemic index of foods. The GI of any food is determined by its quantity of carbohydrates, fat, and protein. A person will see a low GI diet played out in different ways depending on how many meals make up their day. A person may find following a low GI diet complicated. A person needs to know the GI of all the foods on their plate, which can prove problematic when a meal has many ingredients. Following a low GI diet can limit what options someone has when eating out in restaurants.

A study conducted in 2015 advises that people need to consider low GL and GI in the context of overall healthful eating. But as per a 2018 review, fiber and whole grains are essential components of a healthful diet and may predict health outcomes better than GI.

Low Gi Foods

There are different food that contains GI in a low amount, such as:

• Vegetables: Peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, lettuce, eggplants.
• Fruits: Strawberries, apples, pears.
• Legumes: Chickpeas, beans (dried or boiled), legumes.
• Dairy: Whole/full-fat milk, plain yogurt.
• Sweets: Dark chocolate with more than 70% cocoa.
• Nuts: Cashews, peanuts.

Food In High Gi To Avoid

The GI of foods is the measure of how much sugar and starch are in a food. People who want to manage their weight or diabetes can find out the GI of foods from the International Tables of Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load Values. According to the table, the following foods are high in GI:

• Processed foods: Corn chips, pretzels.
• Sugar-containing beverages: Soda, sweet tea, sports drinks.
• Fast food: Cheeseburgers, fried chicken, pizza.
• Bakery/grains: Doughnuts, white bread, cereals (unless whole grain).
• Potatoes: Mashed potatoes, French fries.