Di Paolo Lupo – nutritionist biologist
In spite of what you might think, glycemic load and glycemic index are concepts that should not be interested only in diabetics. Understanding how carbohydrate intake affects ours salute it can be relevant to everyone, too to stay or get back in shape.
Let’s start from the beginning. Different carbohydrate-containing foods affect blood sugar differently and these effects can be quantified by known measures such as glycemic index and glycemic load. The glycemic index (GI) assigns a numerical score to a food based on how dramatically it raises your blood sugar. Foods are classified on a scale of 0 to 100, with pure glucose (sugar) given a value of 100. The lower the glycemic index of a food, the slower the blood sugar rises after eating that food. In general, the more processed a food is, the higher its glycemic index, while the more fiber or fat a food has, the lower its GI.
But the glycemic index only tells part of the story. It tells us how fast its sugar component is it will be absorbed, but it does not say how high your blood sugar level could goand after eating a food. To understand the full effect of a food on blood sugar, you need to know both the rate at which glucose enters the bloodstream and the amount of glucose per serving it can provide. And that’s exactly what the glycemic load does, providing a more accurate picture of a food’s real-life impact on blood sugar. Watermelon, for example, has a high glycemic index (80). But one serving of watermelon is so low in carbs that its glycemic load is only 5.
Hence, ideally, attention should be paid to both the glycemic index and the glycemic load to avoid sudden spikes in blood sugar. L’American Diabetes Association, on the other hand, it states that the total amount of carbohydrates in a food, rather than its glycemic index or load, is a stronger predictor of what will happen to blood sugar. The bottom line? Follow the principles of Eating low on the glycemic index is undoubtedly beneficial, especially for people with diabetes. But achieving and maintaining a correct weight is even more important for blood sugar as well health in general.