Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load
Integrative Medicine
Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load: Key Points
What Can Affect the Glycemic Index in Food?
1. Ripeness and storage time—The GI of many fruits such as bananas goes up as they ripen.
2. Cooking time—The longer the cooking time for certain grains and starches, like pasta, the higher the GI. Pasta cooked “al dente,” where it is slightly undercooked and is more firm, has a lower GI.
3. Processing method—The finer a food is chopped, mashed, or juiced, the higher the GI, e.g., whole potatoes versus chopped potatoes.
4. Combination with other foods or dressings—Adding fat, fiber, and acid (such as lemon juice or vinegar) lowers the GI since they help slow down the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream. For example, baked potatoes with butter and sourdough bread have lower GI than just baked potatoes and nonsourdough breads, respectively. Combining high-GI foods with low-GI foods will also decrease blood sugar rise.
5. Food variety—Certain varieties of vegetables, grains, and fruits have different GIs than their counterparts, e.g., short grain rice versus long grain rice and russet potatoes versus red potatoes.
6. An individual's metabolism and digestion—GI is relative to a person’s age, metabolism, and digestive health.