What is glycemic load?
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While the concept of glycemic index is pretty straight forward, it is not always easy to apply to how people eat. One issue with glycemic index is that the amount of food used to determine its glycemic index is not typically the amount of food consumed. A good example is boiled carrots which will have a glycemic index of about 90. Since one cup serving of carrots only has about 4 grams of available carbohydrate, rarely would a person eat enough carrots to achieve the level used to determine its glycemic index, which would be about 12 times that amount. That’s why researchers developed a second glycemic measure more appropriate for the “real world”, called glycemic load. |
Glycemic load is the glycemic index divided the number of grams of digestible carbohydrate in a standard serving. A food’s glycemic load is derived by taking the glycemic index and then multiplying it by the amount of digestible carbohydrate and then dividing by one hundred. For instance, carrots have a glycemic index of 90, which multiplied by 4 (grams of digestible carbohydrate) and divided by 100 gives you a glycemic load of roughly 4. See Glycemic Index and Load Tables for a listing of glycemic loads of common foods relative to glycemic index.
Are glycemic index and glycemic load important to health?
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Foods with lower glycemic responses are more desirable for people who are actively managing their blood glucose levels. This includes pre-diabetics and diabetics. The lower glycemic response could mean less medication necessary to keep blood glucose levels in check. Also, lower glycemic diets are often positioned as ideal to help people lose weight. Whether or not this is true remains to be conclusively determined, however lower glycemic foods are associated with better satiety (fullness) and hunger control which can be helpful to people trying to shed a few pounds. Lastly, lower glycemic food are associated with reduced risk of heart disease. |
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