Knowing the GI value can help with sugar control!

by Specialist

We all have more or less elevated blood glucose after eating food, and different foods do not cause the same blood glucose response, and the glycemic index (GI) is used in medicine to measure the glycemic effect of food.

Eating foods with low GI has a smooth postprandial blood glucose curve, whereas with high GI foods, postprandial blood glucose can be like a roller coaster, rising and falling rapidly, which is not good for blood glucose control.

GI values can be graded:

  • High GI foods (GI value >70): rapid digestion and absorption of carbohydrates, rapid rise in blood glucose

  • Medium GI foods (GI values 55-70): moderate satiety, moderate rise in blood glucose

  • Low GI foods (GI value ≤ 55): slow digestion and absorption of carbohydrate, slow rise in blood glucose

Glycemic index of common types of foods:

  • High glycemic index foods:
    • Sugars
    • Sugars: maltose, glucose, lanolin, honey

    • Fruits: watermelon

    • Cereals and potatoes: buns, white bread, brown rice, glutinous rice, rice, pancakes

  • Medium glycemic index foods:

    • Sugar: Sucrose

    • Dairy products: Ice cream

    • Fruits: pineapple, dried glucose, mangoes

    • Cereals and potatoes: mashed potatoes, soda crackers, rice porridge, polenta, potatoes, millet porridge, hamburgers, buckwheat noodles, corn, oat bran

  • Low glycemic index foods:

    • Sugar: chocolate, fructose

    • Beans: lentils, chickpeas, tofu, green beans, string beans, dried tofu, soybeans, fava beans, peanuts

    • Dairy products: yogurt, kefir, skim milk, milk

    • Fruits: grapefruit, peach, prune, guava, kiwi, apple, pear, peach, plum, cherry

    • Cereals and potatoes: buckwheat, sweet potato, cornmeal porridge, yam, macaroni, wheat, noodles, lotus root powder, barley

Of course, we can’t just look at the GI value, but the glycemic load index (GL) is also important. GL refers to the product of the mass of carbohydrate contained in a given food and its glycemic index value, divided by 100. GL indicates the magnitude of the effect of a given weight of food on the body’s blood sugar, and it provides a more comprehensive assessment of the ability of food to cause a rise in blood sugar.