Why is a foods glycemic index important?
Many recent, popular carbohydrate diet books use glycemic index as a simple guide to making food choices.(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7,) Glycemic index is intended to measure how fast and high a specific food increases blood sugar. Although there are two similar methods for measuring glycemic index, there is no consensus among doctors or nutritionists that glycemic index is a reliable way to choose foods for weight loss or other diets.(12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22) Glycemic index does not account for serving size. Considering a foods purported glycemic index alone can distort the real glycemic response of a low carbohydrate food, such as beer. Measuring the glycemic index of a food generally requires the food be consumed in about a 15-minute time period and in quantities that deliver 50 grams of carbohydrates. Then, the blood sugar is measured over time and the results are compared to the blood sugar response of a standard food, such as glucose or white bread.(13, 26, 27) The problem
