Glycemic Index (Lecture #2)

What is the Glycemic Index?
Not all carbohydrate foods are created equal, in fact they behave quite differently in our bodies. The glycemic index or GI describes this difference by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. Choosing low GI carbs – the ones that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels – is the secret to long-term health reducing your risk of heart disease and diabetes and is the key to sustainable weight loss.

What are the Benefits of the Glycemic Index?

Eating a lot of high GI foods can be detrimental to your health because it pushes your body to extremes. This is especially true if you are overweight and sedentary. Switching to eating mainly low GI carbs that slowly trickle glucose into your blood stream keeps your energy levels balanced and means you will feel fuller for longer between meals.

• Low GI diets help people lose and manage weight
• Low GI diets increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin
• Low GI carbs improve diabetes management
• Low GI carbs reduce the risk of heart disease
• Low GI carbs improve blood cholesterol levels
• Low GI carbs can help you manage the symptoms of PCOS
• Low GI carbs reduce hunger and keep you fuller for longer
• Low GI carbs prolong physical endurance
• High GI carbs help re-fuel carbohydrate stores after exercise
• How to Switch to a Low GI Diet
• The basic technique for eating the low GI way is simply a “this for that” approach – ie, swapping high GI carbs for low GI carbs. You don’t need to count numbers or do any sort of mental arithmetic to make sure you are eating a healthy, low GI diet.
• Use breakfast cereals based on oats, barley and bran
• Use breads with wholegrains, stone-ground flour, sour dough
• Reduce the amount of potatoes you eat
• Enjoy all other types of fruit and vegetables
• Use Basmati or Doongara rice
• Enjoy pasta, noodles, quinoa
• Eat plenty of salad vegetables with a vinaigrette dressing
• (Sheehan’s note: I would also advise avoiding glutens-even if they are low GI. For example, substitute rice or quinoa pasta for wheat pasta, and buckwheat or gluten-free oat cereal for breakfast cereals based on gluten-containing grains, switch from potatoes to sweet potatoes or yams).

The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating. Foods with a high GI are those which are rapidly digested and absorbed and result in marked fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Low-GI foods, by virtue of their slow digestion and absorption, produce gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels, and have proven benefits for health. Low GI diets have been shown to improve both glucose and lipid levels in people with diabetes (type 1 and type 2). They have benefits for weight control because they help control appetite and delay hunger. Low GI diets also reduce insulin levels and insulin resistance.
Recent studies from Harvard School of Public Health indicate that the risks of diseases such as type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease are strongly related to the GI of the overall diet. In 1999, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recommended that people in industrialised countries base their diets on low-GI foods in order to prevent the most common diseases of affluence, such as coronary heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

Measuring the GI

To determine a food’s GI rating, measured portions of the food containing 10 – 50 grams of carbohydrate are fed to 10 healthy people after an overnight fast. Finger-prick blood samples are taken at 15-30 minute intervals over the next two hours. These blood samples are used to construct a blood sugar response curve for the two hour period. The area under the curve (AUC) is calculated to reflect the total rise in blood glucose levels after eating the test food. The GI rating (%) is calculated by dividing the AUC for the test food by the AUC for the reference food (same amount of glucose) and multiplying by 100 (see Figure 1). The use of a standard food is essential for reducing the confounding influence of differences in the physical characteristics of the subjects. The average of the GI ratings from all ten subjects is published as the GI of that food.

The GI of foods has important implications for the food industry. Some foods on the Australian market already show their GI rating on the nutrition information panel. Terms such as complex carbohydrates and sugars, which commonly appear on food labels, are now recognized as having little nutritional or physiological significance. The WHO/FAO recommend that these terms be removed and replaced with the total carbohydrate content of the food and its GI value. However, the GI rating of a food must be tested physiologically and only a few centres around the world currently provide a legitimate testing service. The Human Nutrition Unit at the University of Sydney has been at the forefront of glycemic index research for over two decades and has tested hundreds of foods as an integral part of its program. Jennie Brand Miller is the senior author of International Tables of Glycemic Index published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1995 and 2002.

What is the difference between glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL)?
Your blood glucose rises and falls when you eat a meal containing carbs. How high it rises and how long it remains high depends on the quality of the carbs (the GI) and the quantity. Glycemic load or GL combines both the quality and quantity of carbohydrate in one number’. It’s the best way to predict blood glucose values of different types and amounts of food.

The formula is:

GL = (GI x the amount of carbohydrate) divided by 100.
Let’s take a single apple as an example. It has a GI of 40 and it contains 15 grams of carbohydrate.
GL = 40 x 15/100 = 6 g
What about a small baked potato? Its GI is 80 and it contains 15 g of carbohydrate.
GL = 80 x 15/100 = 12 g

So we can predict that our potato will have twice the metabolic effect of an apple. You can think of GL as the amount of carbohydrate in a food ‘adjusted’ for its glycemic potency.
Should I use GI or GL and does it really matter?

Although the GL concept has been useful in scientific research, it’s the GI that’s proven most helpful to people with diabetes. That’s because a diet with a low GL, unfortunately, can be a ‘mixed bag’, full of healthy low GI carbs in some cases, but low in carbs and full of the wrong sorts of fats such as meat and butter in others. If you choose healthy low GI foods-at least one at each meal-chances are you’ve eating a diet that not only keeps blood glucose ‘on an even keel’, but contains balanced amounts of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

We suggest that you think of the GI as a tool allowing you to choose one food over another in the same food group-the best bread to choose, the best cereal etc.-and don’t get bogged down with figures. A low GI diet is about eating a wide variety of healthy foods that fuel our bodies best-on the whole these are the less processed and wholesome foods that will provide you with carbs in a slow release form. So what’s the take-home message?

Choose slow carbs, not low carbs

Use the GI to identify your best carbohydrate choices.
Take care with portion size with carb-rich foods such as rice or pasta or noodles to limit the overall GL of your diet.

(Sheehan’s note-GI should be used in conjunction with other food systems such as no sugar, no gluten)

Do I need to eat only low GI foods at every meal to see a benefit?

No you don’t, because the effect of a low GI food carries over to the next meal, reducing its glycemic impact. This applies to breakfast eaten after a low GI dinner the previous evening or to a lunch eaten after a low GI breakfast. This unexpected beneficial effect is called the “second meal effect”. But don’t take this too far, however. We recommend that you aim for at least one low GI food per meal.

While you will benefit from eating low GI carbs at each meal, this doesn’t have to be at the exclusion of all others. So enjoy baking your own bread or occasional treats. And if you combine high GI bakery products with protein foods and low GI carbs such as fruit or legumes, the overall GI value will be medium.

Why do many high-fibre foods still have a high GI value?

Dietary fibre is not one chemical constituent like fat and protein. It is composed of many different sorts of molecules and can be divided into soluble and insoluble types. Soluble fibre is often viscous (thick and jelly-like) in solution and remains viscous even in the small intestine. For this reason it makes it harder for enzymes to move around and digest the food. Foods with more soluble fibre, like apples, oats, and legumes, therefore have low GI values.

Insoluble fibre, on the other hand, is not viscous and doesn’t slow digestion unless it’s acting like a fence to inhibit access by enzymes (eg. the bran around intact kernels). When insoluble fibre is finely milled, the enzymes have free reign, allowing rapid digestion. Wholemeal bread and white bread have similar GI values. Brown pasta and brown rice have similar values to their white counterparts.

Does the GI increase with serving size? If I eat twice as much, does the GI double?
The GI always remains the same, even if you double the amount of carbohydrate in your meal. This is because the GI is a relative ranking of foods containing the “same amount” of carbohydrate. But if you double the amount of food you eat, you should expect to see a higher blood glucose response – ie, your glucose levels will reach a higher peak and take longer to return to baseline compared with a normal serve.

If testing continued long enough, wouldn’t you expect the areas under the curve to become equal, even for very high and very low GI foods?

Many people make the assumption that since the amount of carbohydrate in the foods is the same, then the areas under the curve will finally be the same. This is not the case because the body is not only absorbing glucose from the gut into the bloodstream, it is also extracting glucose from the blood. Just as a gentle rain can be utilised better by the garden than a sudden deluge, the body can metabolise slowly digested food better than quickly digested carbohydrate. Fast-release carbohydrate causes “flooding” of the system and the body cannot extract the glucose from the blood fast enough. Just as water levels rise quickly after torrential rain, so do glucose levels in the blood. But the same amount of rain falling over a long period can be absorbed into the ground and water levels do not rise.

Why doesn’t the GI of beef, chicken, fish, tofu, eggs, nuts, seeds, avocadoes, many fruits (including berries) and vegetables, wine, beer and spirits appear on the GI database?
These foods contain no carbohydrate, or so little that their GI cannot be tested according to the standard methodology. Bear in mind that the GI is a measure of carbohydrate quality. Essentially, these types of foods, eaten alone, won’t have much effect on your blood glucose levels.

Some vegetables like pumpkin and parsnips appear to have a high GI. Does this mean a person with diabetes should avoid eating them?
Definitely not, because, unlike potatoes and cereal products, these vegetables do not contain a lot of carbohydrate. So, despite their high GI, their glycemic load (GI x carb per serve divided by 100) is medium. These vegetables contain loads of micronutrients and can be consumed as part of a healthy balanced meal.

Can you tell me the GI of alcoholic beverages (beer, wine and spirits)?
Alcoholic beverages contain very little carbohydrate. In fact, most wines and spirits contain virtually none, although beer contains some (3 or 4 grams per 100 mL). A middy of beer (10 ounces) contains about 10 grams of carbohydrate compared with 36 grams in the same volume of soft drink. For this reason, a beer will raise glucose levels slightly. If you drink beer in large volumes (not a great idea) then you could expect it to have a more significant effect on blood glucose. As for enjoying an occasional drink, researchers from the University of Sydney found that a pre-dinner drink tends to produce a ‘priming’ effect, flicking the switch from internal to external sources of fuel and keeping blood-sugar levels low.
Why does some variability occur in the GI for the same food types?
The GI database confirms the reproducibility of GI results around the world. White and wholemeal bread, apples, breakfast cereals etc give the same results wherever/whoever tests them. Where there is variability, there are four possible explanations:

1.  Some GI testing groups are not as experienced/accurate as ours. They use venous blood which gives more variability than capillary blood. If we test a product over and over again, we get the same result +/- 5%. That’s as good as nutrient data such as protein, fat, fibre etc.
2. The variability among different types of potatoes, rices, and oats is REAL. They contain different types of starch (amylose, amylopectin) and that affects the degree of starch gelatinisation. When it comes to sugars like fructose, the concentration of the solution makes a difference to the rate of gastric emptying and therefore the glycemic response. A more dilute solution, say 25 g fructose in 500 mL water will have a higher GI than 25 g fructose in 250 mL. But fructose has a very low GI whichever way you consume it.
3. Sometimes the manufacturer may change the formulation of their product by reducing the fat content for example. Reducing the fat can increase the GI. Manufacturers may have their products retested if they make significant changes to the formulation, or source ingredients from different suppliers.
4. Some foods have been tested in people with type 2 diabetes. These values may be higher than that seen in the normal population. Follow the food links in the GI database to find more information on the testing conditions.
   Why does pasta have a low GI?

Pasta has a low GI because of the physical entrapment of ungelatinised starch granules in a sponge-like network of protein (gluten) molecules in the pasta dough. Pasta is unique in this regard. As a result, pastas of any shape and size have a fairly low GI (30 to 60). Asian noodles such as hokkein, udon and rice vermicelli also have low to intermediate GI values.
Pasta should be cooked al dente (‘firm to the bite’). And this is the best way to eat pasta – it’s not meant to be soft. It should be slightly firm and offer some resistance when you are chewing it. Overcooking boosts the GI. Although most manufacturers specify a cooking time on the packet, don’t take their word for it. Start testing about 2-3 minutes before the indicated cooking time is up. But watch that glucose load. While al dente pasta is a low GI choice, eating too much will have a marked effect on your blood glucose. A cup of al dente pasta combined with plenty of mixed vegetables and herbs can turn into three cups of a pasta-based meal and fits easily into any adult’s daily diet.

Most breads and potatoes have a high GI. Does this mean I should never eat them?
Potatoes and bread, despite their high GI, can play a major role in a high carb/low fat diet, even if your goal is to reduce the overall GI. Only about half the carbohydrate needs to be exchanged from high to low GI to derive health benefits. Of course, some types of bread and potatoes have a lower GI and these should be preferred in order to lower the GI as much as possible.

The good news for potato lovers is that a potato salad made the day before, tossed with a vinaigrette dressing and kept in the fridge will have a much lower GI than potatoes served steaming hot from the pot. There are a couple of simple reasons for this. The cold storage increases the potatoes’ resistant starch content by more than a third and the acid in the vinaigrette whether you make it with lemon juice, lime juice or vinegar will slow stomach emptying.

What about flour? If I make my own bread (or dumplings, pancakes, muffins etc) which flours, if any, are low GI? What about sprouted grain breads?
To date there are no GI ratings for refined flour whether it’s made from wheat, soy or other grains. This is because The GI rating of a food must be tested physiologically that is in real people. So far we haven’t had volunteers willing to tuck into 50 gram portions of flour on three occasions! What we do know, however, is that bakery products such as scones, cakes, biscuits, donuts and pastries made from highly refined flour whether it’s white or wholemeal are quickly digested and absorbed.

What should you do with your own baking? Try to increase the soluble fibre content by partially substituting flour with oat bran, rice bran or rolled oats and increase the bulkiness of the product with dried fruit, nuts, muesli, All-Bran or unprocessed bran. Don’t think of it as a challenge. It’s an opportunity for some creative cooking.
Bread made from sprouted grains might well have a lower blood-glucose raising ability than bread made from normal flour. When grains begin to sprout, carbohydrates stored in the grain are used as the fuel source for the new shoot. Chances are that the more readily available carbs stored in the wheat grain will be used up first, thereby reducing the amount of carbs in the final product. Furthermore, if the whole kernel form of the wheat grain is retained in the finished product, it will have the desired effect of lowering the blood glucose level.

Some high fat foods have a low GI. Doesn’t this give a falsely favourable impression of that food?

Yes it does, especially if the fat is saturated fat. The GI value of potato chips or french fries is lower than baked potatoes. Large amounts of fat in foods tends to slow the rate of stomach emptying and therefore the rate at which foods are digested. Yet the saturated fat in these foods will contribute to a much increased risk of heart disease. It is important to look at the type of fat in foods rather than avoid it completely. Good fats are found in foods such as avocadoes, nuts and legumes while saturated fats are found in dairy products, cakes and biscuits. We’d all be better off if we left the cakes and biscuits for special occasions.

(Sheehan Note: saturated fats are not as evil as this article makes them out to be. It depends on the type of saturated fat. Please see the notes from the January 31st lecture.)
Why not just adopt a low carbohydrate diet (like the Atkins diet) to keep my blood glucose levels and weight down?
Recent studies show that low carb diets such as the Atkins diet produce faster rates of weight loss than conventional low fat diets. The probable mechanism is lower day-long insulin levels – allowing greater use of fat as the source of fuel – the same mechanism underlying the success of low GI diets. We believe that low carb diets are unnecessarily restrictive (bread, potato, rice, grains and most fruits are restricted) and may spell trouble in the long term if saturated fat takes the place of carbohydrate. Low GI diets strike a happy medium between low fat and low carb diets – you can have your carbs, but must choose them carefully.

Is there a GI plan for nursing mothers?

A low GI diet is ideal while you are breastfeeding. Breastfeeding requires a lot of energy and theoretically this additional energy comes from the body fat laid down during pregnancy. Of course in reality it doesn’t all get used up and most have to make a concerted effort to work off the baby weight. To do this though it is important that you don’t go on a low calorie diet or any sort of extreme measure such as the low carb diets popular in the press. Since breastfeeding tends to increase your appetite (the body’s way of ensuring you have the energy required to produce milk) this is good news as staying on such a diet would be a nightmare! This is what makes the low GI approach so successful – forget about trying to count calories or even your portions of food.

First and foremost focus on the sorts of foods you are eating. Low GI foods are the wholegrains, fresh fruit and vegetables and legumes. By eating these foods as the mainstay of your meals you can trust your appetite and eat to satisfaction while you are breastfeeding. Also get back to some exercise – even if it’s just a daily walk with the pram/carriage. You should then find that the weight slowly starts to shift – realistically give yourself at least that first six months to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight.
How relevant is the GI for athletes?

The GI can be a useful tool to help athletes select the right type of carbohydrates to consume both before and after exercise. Studies have consistently reported that a low GI pre-exercise meal results in a better maintenance of blood glucose concentrations during exercise and a higher rate of fat oxidation. This is likely to result in reduced muscle glycogen utilisation during prolonged exercise and possibly improve endurance performance. Eating high GI meals before exercise may result in plasma glucose concentrations peaking before the onset of exercise and then hypoglycemia occurring within the first 30 minutes of the exercise period. There is little data available on the effect of the GI of carbohydrates eaten before intermittent, power or strength related sports.
During recovery from exercise, muscle glycogen resynthesis is of high metabolic priority. The eating of high GI carbohydrates after exercise increases plasma glucose and insulin concentrations and this facilitates muscle glycogen resynthesis. If however, you are exercising for weight loss purposes or are involved in weight restricted sports, low GI carbohydrates after exercise may be more beneficial as the lower glucose and insulin concentrations will not suppress fat.

I have recently been diagnosed with celiac disease (gluten sensitivity). It’s extremely hard to find both low GI and wheat-free foods. Any suggestions?

This is not as hard as you may think! There are low GI gluten-free foods in four of the five food groups.

Fruit and Vegetables

Temperate climate fruits – apples, pears, citrus (oranges, grapefruit) and stone fruits (peaches, plums, apricots) – all have low GI values. Tropical fruits – pineapple, paw paw, papaya, rockmelon and watermelon tend to have higher GI values, but their glycemic load (GL) is low because they are low in carbohydrate.

Leafy green and salad vegetables have so little carbohydrate that we can’t test their GI. Even in generous serving sizes they will have no effect on your blood glucose levels. Higher carb starchy vegetables include sweet corn (which is actually a cereal grain), potato, sweet potato, taro and yam, so watch the portion sizes with these. Most potatoes tested to date have a high GI, so if you are a big potato eater, try to replace some with lower GI starchy alternatives such as sweet corn, yam or legumes. Pumpkin, carrots, peas, parsnips and beetroot contain some carbohydrate, but a normal serving size contains so little that it won’t raise your blood glucose levels significantly.

Bread and Cereals

Opt for breads made from chickpea or legume based flours. For example chapattis made with besan (chickpea flour) have a low GI. If you make your own bread, try adding buckwheat kernels, rice bran and psyllium husks to lower the GI. Most gluten-free breads seem to be better toasted than used to make sandwiches.

Breakfast cereals containing pysllium husks are likely to have a lower GI – you could also add a teaspoon or two of pysllium to you usual cereal. To date there are just a few gluten-free breakfast cereals on our database that have a low GI. If you do have a higher GI gluten-free cereal, combine it with lots of fruit and low fat yoghurt or low fat milk, to lower the GI.
Noodles are a great stand-by for quick meals, a good source of carbohydrate, provide some protein, B vitamins and minerals and will help to keep blood glucose levels on an even keel. There are several low GI gluten-free options available fresh and dried: buckwheat (soba) noodles; cellophane noodles, also known as Lungkow bean thread noodles or green bean vermicelli, are made from mung bean flour; rice noodles made from ground or pounded rice flour, are available fresh and dried.

Gluten-free pastas based on rice and corn (maize) tend to have moderate to high GI values so opt for pastas made from legumes or soy. As for wholegrains, try buckwheat, quinoa, low GI varieties of rice such as basmati and sweet corn. Currently there are no published values for amaranth, sorghum, and tef. Millet has a high GI.

Minimise refined flour products and starches irrespective of their fat and sugar content such as crispy puffed breakfast cereals, crackers, biscuits, rolls, most breads and cakes or snack foods. Limit high GI snacks such as corn and potato chips, rice cakes, corn thins and rice crackers.

Legumes (pulses) including beans, chickpeas and lentils
When you add legumes to meals and snacks, you reduce the overall GI of your diet because your body digests them slowly. So make the most of beans, chickpeas, lentils, and whole and split dried peas.

Nuts

Although nuts are high in fat (averaging around 50 per cent), it is largely unsaturated, so they make a healthy substitute for foods such as biscuits, cakes, pastries, potato chips and chocolate. They also contain relatively little carbohydrate, so most do not have a GI value. Peanuts (actually a legume) and cashews have very low GI values.
Low fat dairy foods and calcium-enriched soy products

Low fat milk, yoghurt and ice-cream or soy alternatives provide sustained energy, boosting your calcium intake but not your saturated fat intake. Check the labels of yoghurts, ice-cream and soymilks as many contain wheat-based thickeners. If lactose intolerance is a problem, reach for live cultured yoghurts and lactose-hydrolysed milks. Even ice-cream can be enjoyed if you ingest a few drops of lactase enzyme first.

Is a low GI diet suitable for vegetarians?

The low GI diet is just as easy for a vegetarian to follow – in fact, teaching vegetarians to follow the low GI diet can be easier because most are eating many of the best low GI foods already. For the vegetarian, the same principles apply: substitute your plant protein sources for the meat. Eat more beans, lentils and other legumes – all among the lowest GI foods we have tested. Quorn is also a great meat substitute with no GI as it has almost no carbohydrate (2 g/100 g).

Some additional points:

The GI only applies to foods containing significant amounts of carbohydrate. Most vegetables have small amounts of carbohydrate and those that provide more usually have a low GI, with the exception of potatoes. You can therefore tuck into your veggies without considering the GI for every one – and benefit from antioxidants and all the micronutrients they supply!

Legumes should be a daily part of any vegetarian diet for your protein – happily these are also a mainstay of a low GI diet.

Almost every low GI food we talk about in the book is suitable as part of a vegetarian diet. Animal products are usually high in fat, protein or both and therefore do not have a GI.
The range of protein and carb intake that is healthy is fairly broad – as a vegetarian you will inevitable have a higher carb intake and slightly lower protein intake. This makes the GI important for you but easy to adapt if you choose wholegrain cereal products and legumes as your carbohydrate base.

Coffee has no carbohydrate (unless you add sugar and/or milk and the GI response comes from these foods) and hence it is not in the GI tables.

Source: www.glycemicindex.com

Here’s a quick chart of Glycemic index values I found on the internet.

Glycemic Index of Cereals

• Kellogg’s All Bran 51
• Kellogg’s Bran Buds 45
• Kellogg’s Cornflakes 84
• Kellogg’s Rice Krispies 82
• Kellogg’s Special K 54
• Oatmeal 49
• Shredded Wheat 67
• Quaker Puffed Wheat 67
• Glycemic Index of Grains
• Buckwheat 54
• Bulgur 48
• Basmati Rice 58
• Brown Rice 55
• Long grain White Rice 56
• Short grain White Rice 72
• Uncle Ben’s Converted 44
• Noodles (instant) 46
• Taco Shells 68
• Glycemic Index of Fruit
• Apple 38
• Banana 55
• Cantaloupe 65
• Cherries 22
• Grapefruit 25
• Grapes 46
• Kiwi 52
• Mango 55
• Orange 44
• Papaya 58
• Pear 38
• Pineapple 66
• Plum 39
• Watermelon 103
• Glycemic Index of
• Vegetables
• Beets 69
• Broccoli 10
• Cabbage 10
• Carrots 49
• Corn 55
• Green Peas 48
• Lettuce 10
• Mushrooms 10
• Onions 10
• Parsnips 97
• Potato (baked) 93
• Potato (mashed, instant) 86
• Potato (new) 62
• Potato (french fries) 75
• Red Peppers 10
• Pumpkin 75
• Sweet Potato 54
• Glycemic Index of Beans
• Baked Beans 48
• Broad Beans 79
• Cannellini Beans 31
• Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas) 33
• Lentils 30
• Lima Beans 32
• Navy Beans 38
• Pinto Beans 39
• Red Kidney Beans 27
• Soy Beans 18
• White Beans 31
• Glycemic Index of Pasta
• Spaghetti 43
• Ravioli (meat) 39
• Fettuccini (egg) 32
• Spiral Pasta 43
• Capellini 45
• Linguine 46
• Macaroni 47
• Rice vermicelli 58
• Glycemic Index of Breads
• inc. Muffins & Cakes
• Bagel 72
• Blueberry Muffin 59
• Croissant 67
• Donut 76
• Pita Bread 57
• Pumpernickel Bread 51
• Rye Bread 76
• Sour Dough Bread 52
• Sponge Cake 46
• Stone Ground Whole wheat bread 53
• Waffles 76
• White Bread 70
• Whole Wheat Bread 69
• Glycemic Index of Dairy
• Milk (whole) 22
• Milk (skimmed) 32
• Milk (chocolate flavored) 34
• Ice Cream (whole) 61
• Ice cream (low-fat) 50
• Yogurt (low-fat) 33
• Glycemic Index of Snacks
• Cashews 22
• Chocolate Bar 49
• Corn Chips 72
• Jelly Beans 80
• Peanuts 14
• Popcorn 55
• Potato Chips 55
• Pretzels 83
• Snickers Bar 41
• Walnuts 15
• Glycemic Index of Cookies
• Graham Crackers 74
• Kavli Crispbread 71
• Melba Toast 70
• Oatmeal Cookies 55
• Rice Cakes 82
• Rice Crackers 91
• Ryvita Crispbread 69
• Soda Crackers 74
• Shortbread Cookies 64
• Stoned Wheat Thins 67
• Vanilla Wafers
• Water crackers 78
• Glycemic Index of Sugars
• Fructose 23
• Glucose 100
• Honey 58
• Lactose 46
• Maltose 105
• Sucrose 65

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