Glycemic Food Index

Glycemic Food Index

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Low Glycemic Foods Are Among The Best Fat Burning Foods And May Also Be Heart Healthy

Results were recently published from a huge Italian study that examined the relationship between high glycemic diets and coronary heart disease (CHD). They found an increase in CHD among women with high glycemic diets.

High Glycemic Foods Explained

The "high" in high glycemic foods refers to where that particular food falls on the glycemic index (GI), which is a ranking system for how carbohydrates affect blood glucose (blood sugar) levels.

High glycemic foods cause a sudden rise in blood sugar and increase insulin resistance.  Whereas low glycemic foods digest more slowly, don't cause blood sugar levels to shoot up and keep you full longer and reduce hunger among other benefits.

The Italian Study on Coronary Heart Disease

The study, "Dietary Glycemic Load and Index and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in a Large Italian Cohort" was recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The authors included Sabina Sieri, of the National Institute for Cancer Research in Milan, Italy; and Vittorio Krogh of the Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, also in Milan.

Researchers compiled information from questionnaires filled out by 40,000 men and women  in Italy between the ages of 35 and 74. The questions related to diet and heart disease. The most common high GI foods in the study were bread, sugar or honey and jam, pizza and rice.

The study followed up for just under eight years, on average, and found that 158 women and 305 men developed coronary heart disease. Oddly, despite the higher incidence of CHD in men, the correlation with a high glycemic diet was only found in female respondents.

The research team suggested that "the effect on CHD is conferred not by a diet high in carbohydrates but by a diet rich in rapidly absorbed carbohydrates."  Sex-related differences between the ways lipoprotein and glucose are metabolized may be behind the variance in results by gender, but further study is needed.

Avoid Sugary Refined Foods to Maintain Heart Health

The Italian study showed an increased incidence of CHD in women who had high glycemic diets, but other known effects of eating that way include increased insulin resistance and diabetes and even are thought to be related to acne breakouts and male pattern baldness.

The glycemic index is somewhat controversial among nutritionists.  There are some low glycemic foods that are NOT recommended, and lowering the glycemic index of anything by substituting artificial sweeteners like sucralose and aspartame removes it completely from the list of foods that you should eat.

The lesson to be learned from the Italian study is not to eat only the foods that are low on the list, but to avoid the kind of food that dominated the diets that were found to increase CHD in women.

To maintain good health, avoid the kind of foods mentioned as being dominant in the high glycemic diets in the study: bread, sugar, white rice and, of course, pizza. It isn't the glycemic number of any of those foods that indicates that it is to be avoided. You already knew those weren't good for you, didn't you?

The key to a heart healthy diet is to eat whole organic foods. You'll find that your best fat burning foods are also your best foods in general!

About the Author

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