Diabetics – know the glyceamic load and indexes of the common food items.

Dr Nitin J. Mehta - M Sc, Ph D., FICN, Dip. in Lib. SC., & Hosp. Adm. ( Independent researcher )

Worldwide prevalence of diabetes is around 143 million, out of this India has the largest number of diabetic subjects with 23 million cases in 2000, rising to 57 million by the year 2025.To note, most of these diabetics in India shall be in the most productive years of their lives and the is a fearful scenario for the country.

Throughout the history , diabetes has been controlled by various types of diets. Probably the first reference to diabetes was in Ebers Papyruses

Circa 1552 B.C. with the diet of wheat berries, honey, grapes etc . Over man years attempts of nutritional classification were made but not to complete satisfaction. The structure of foods also causes changes in the rapidity and extent of the rise in blood glucose levels after a meal. The impact of carbohydrate consumption can best be assessed by glyceamic load. The amount of carbohyderate in a specific food serving multiplied by the glyceamic index [GI] value gives glyceamic load [GL].One need to know both these things to understand the effect of food on blood sugar. Foods that have low GI invariably have low GL, and vice versa. Thus reduction in GL of your diet can be reduced with replacement of foods having high GI. A GL upto 10 is less, 11 to 19 is medium , and 20 or more is high.

While apple for example has a lower glyceamic effect than apple puree, which in turn is less than that of apple juice. Combination of foods elicit a different response than single diet.. The differences observed in glyceamic indices are attributed mainly to the properties of – nature of starch, physical structure of food, processing of food etc and human factors – pre meal blood sugar levels, BMI, body weight. , excercise, physical activity etc.

The knowledge of the differences in glyceamic response of foods in day to day life make one aware of improvement can be made in the management of diabetes through diet also.