Understanding the Glycaemic Index: What It Means for Your Health

One technique that is frequently used to encourage improved blood sugar management is the glycaemic index. A food’s glycaemic index is influenced by a number of characteristics, such as its ripeness, cooking style, nutritional makeup and degree of processing. In addition to raising awareness of what you are eating, the glycaemic index can help you lose weight and lower your blood sugar and cholesterol levels.  

What is glycaemic index?

Glycaemic index (GI) is the value that quantifies the food intake and sugar rise in the blood. Generally, eatables are classified as low, medium and high glycaemic foods, which are scored on a 0–100 scale, with 0 and 100 indicating the least and the highest risks of glycaemic rise in the blood. The lower the GI of a specific food, the less it affects the blood sugar levels.  

Here are three GI ratings:

• Low: 55 or less
• Medium: 56–69
• High: 70 or above  

Diets heavy in protein, fat or fibre usually have a low GI, but diets high in refined carbohydrates and sugar are digested more quickly and frequently have a high GI. Meat, fish, poultry, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices and oils are examples of foods that don’t have a GI since they don’t include carbohydrates. Additional variables that impact a food’s GI include its level of ripeness, cooking style, sugar type and processing level.  

Remember that the glycaemic load and the glycaemic index are not the same. Glycaemic load considers the quantity of carbohydrates in a serving of food to ascertain how it might impact blood sugar levels, in contrast to the GI, which ignores the quantity of carbohydrates consumed. Therefore, while choosing foods to promote healthy blood sugar levels, it’s critical to take into account both the glycaemic index and the glycaemic load.  

Low glycaemic diet

• The low glycaemic diet typically means consuming a low-GI diet, which would help in maintaining low blood sugars and avoiding rapid rise in blood glucose levels. The benefits of having a low glycaemic diet include:
• Improved blood sugar regulation: Following a low glycaemic diet reduces blood sugar levels and improves blood sugar management in people with type 2 diabetes.
• Increased weight loss: This shows that following a low-GI diet may increase short-term weight loss.  
• Improved fatty liver: A low-GI diet can help reduce liver fat and liver enzyme levels in people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.  

How to follow glycaemic index?

There are multiple ways to control your blood sugar levels, and one such way is consuming a healthy, low-GI diet. The most common foods that contain low GI are:  

• Fruits: Apples, berries, oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit
• Non-starchy vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spinach, tomatoes
• Whole grains: Quinoa, barley, buckwheat, farro, oats
• Legumes: Lentils, black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans  

Foods without a GI value or with a very low GI can also be enjoyed as part of a balanced, low-GI diet. They include:

• Meat: Beef, bison, lamb, pork
• Seafood: Tuna, salmon, shrimp, mackerel, anchovies, sardines
• Poultry: Chicken, turkey, duck, goose
• Oils: Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, vegetable oil
• Nuts: Almonds, macadamia nuts, walnuts, pistachios
• Seeds: Chia seeds, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds
• Spices and herbs: Turmeric, cumin, black pepper, basil, cinnamon, rosemary
• Some types of pasta: Semolina and whole grain pasta

Foods with a high GI include:

• Bread: White bread, bagels, naan, pita bread
• Rice: White rice, jasmine rice, arborio rice  
• Cereals: Instant oats, breakfast cereals
• Starchy vegetables: Mashed potatoes, potatoes, French fries
• Baked goods: Cake, doughnuts, cookies, croissants, muffins
• Snacks: Chocolate, crackers, microwave popcorn, chips, pretzels
• Sugar-sweetened beverages: Soda, fruit juice, sports drinks

GI of certain eatables

Knowing low-GI and high-GI food lists can improve your glycaemic index regulation. Some of these lists are as follows (showing foods and their GIs):

Fruits

• Apples: 44
• Strawberries: 40
• Dates: 55
• Oranges: 45
• Banana: 62
• Mango: 60
• Blueberries: 53
• Pineapple: 66
• Watermelon: 50

Vegetables

• Carrots (boiled): 32
• Plantains (boiled): 66
• Sweet potatoes (steamed): 71
• Pumpkin (boiled): 75
• Potatoes (boiled): 87

Grains

• Barley: 28
• Quinoa: 50
• Rolled oats: 57
• Couscous: 70
• Popcorn: 70
• Brown rice: 79
• White rice: 70
• Whole wheat bread: 73
• White bread: 81

Legumes

• Soybeans: 16
• Kidney beans: 26
• Chickpeas: 33
• Lentils: 37

Dairy products and dairy alternatives

• Soymilk: 41
• Skim milk: 37
• Whole milk: 41
• Ice cream: 62
• Rice milk: 79
• Sweeteners
• Fructose: 23
• Coconut sugar: 54
• Maple syrup: 54
• Honey: 59
• White sugar: 91

Effects of cooking and ripening

Cooking can have a greater impact on the GI of each food. For example, food that is fried for a longer time contains high fat, which would significantly alter the absorption of sugars, would be depicted as a low-GI food. However, consuming high-fat processed food is known to increase the risk of heart conditions and would have a negative impact on overall health. Moreover, this benefit can be obtained by using less oil quantity and refined oils.  

In contrast, over-roasting or baking certain foods, such as potatoes, legumes or oats, can lead to the breakdown of resistant starch. This is a type of starch that is not digested and passes out without increasing blood sugar levels. However, breaking down these kinds of starch may aid in increased blood sugar levels. Furthermore, boiling such food has a beneficial effect and markedly reduces its GI compared to frying and baking.  

The more you cook certain foods, such as rice or pasta, the more the starch is broken down into simpler forms that can be easily absorbed and raise blood glucose levels. Thus, it is always advisable to cook food until it has an al dente texture, meaning it is firm while biting it.  

Conclusion

To conclude, the glycaemic index, or GI, is a measure used to determine how much a food can affect your blood sugar levels. Several factors affect the glycaemic index chart of a food, including the nutrient composition, ripeness, cooking method and amount of processing it has undergone. Following a low-GI diet may offer several health benefits, as it could help balance your blood sugar levels, reduce liver fat and enhance short-term weight loss.