Ebook The Glycemic Index: Research Meets Reality
Almost all carbohydrates, regardless of the form in which they are consumed (e.g., starch, lactose, sucrose) are metabolized to the monosaccharide glucose, which then enters general circulation causing a temporary rise in blood glucose levels . This “glycemic response” is the basis for the increasingly popular measure known as the glycemic index (GI) (Jenkins et al. 1981).
Although the glycemic effects of different carbohydrate foods were first documented in the early 1970s, the precise terminology and methodology for measuring the GI was not introduced until almost ten years later when Jenkins (1981) published his landmark study documenting the GI as a tool for managing type I diabetes (and later dyslipidemia) (Jenkins et al. 1985, Pi-Sunyer 2002).
In the 20 years since its inception, the GI has been the subject of more than 100 scientific studies and the basis for several popular diet plans (Brand Miller and Foster 2005). The first edition of the International Tables of Glycemic Index was published in 1995 (Foster-Powell and Miller 1995) and included 565 entries. The revised International Table of Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load Values (Foster-Powell et al. 2002) containing 750 different types of foods was published in 2002. In 1997 a committee brought together by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed the use of the GI for classifying CHO-rich foods and recommended that the GI values of foods be used in conjunction with information about food composition to guide food choices (Foster Powell et al. 2002).
Despite the increasing popularity of the GI, its validity and practicality remains controversial, particularly in the United States. Currently, the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the American Heart Association (AHA), and the American Dietetic Association (ADA) do not recognize the GI as a useful dietary planning tool for weight management or disease prevention (Cummings et al. 2002, Krauss et al. 2000, Sheard et al. 2004). Similarly, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans committee indicated that current evidence does not support the use of GI or glycemic load (GL) for providing dietary guidance for Americans (DG committee report 2005).
The following review will provide an overview of the concepts of GI and GL, describe their limitations and discuss their applications for dietary planning and disease prevention.
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