a Sunday morning, years ago, while I was about to enter the church, my eyes caught a person displaying hot snacks. With the speed of light, I ran into the church so that I would not be tempted to buy those snacks.

Bread is one food I do not want to eat anymore. Presently, a bread bakery is just two houses from my residence! As you all know nothing is more tempting like the aroma of freshly baked bread, so, daily, I struggle not to be tempted to eat it.

This time, there is nowhere to run to like the other time I saw freshly made snacks. As we proceed, I will let you know why I am running away from bread consumption.

This week, I would like to talk about how foods affect our blood sugar. Although the emphasis is going to be on foods that raise blood sugar slowly, I will let you know the ones that cause high blood sugar spikes too. We will be exposed to some terminologies but I promise to simplify them for proper understanding.

Carbohydrates are an essential part of a healthy diet. When you eat any type of carb, your digestive system breaks it down into simple sugars that enter the bloodstream. Not all carbs are the same, as different types have unique effects on blood sugar.

The glycaemic index (GI) which was created in the early 1980s by Dr. David Jenkins, a Canadian professor is a classification system that ranks carbohydrate-rich foods according to their impact on blood sugar levels. The GI gives an estimation of how quickly a food is digested and absorbed into the bloodstream.

It (GI) ranks foods on a scale of 0-100. Low-GI foods score less than 55, moderate GI foods score between 56-69 and high-GI foods score 70 or greater. For example, Glucose or pure sugar has a GI of 100 while foods that contain zero carbohydrates have a GI of 0. The higher a food’s GI, the greater its impact on blood sugar.

Foods with a low GI value are the preferred choice. They are slowly digested and absorbed, causing a slower and smaller rise in blood sugar levels. On the other hand, foods with a high GI are quickly digested and absorbed, resulting in a rapid rise in blood sugar levels.

“The glycaemic index is a value that is given to a food based on how quickly or slowly that particular food will increase blood sugar levels,” says Alix Turoff, R.D., a nutritionist and certified personal trainer with a virtual private practice.

Studies show certain groups of people may benefit from following low-GI diets:

Numerous studies have shown that low-GI diets can help improve glycaemic control in people with diabetes. For example, in a review of 10 studies, most of the included studies found that low-GI diets resulted in a significant improvement in post-meal blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

All carbohydrates are eventually broken down into sugar, also known as glucose, but the more complex the carbohydrate, the more steps it has to go through in the body to become a sugar molecule and then be released into your blood to provide fuel for your body and brain.

Foods low on the glycaemic index are typically more complex and since it takes longer to convert these to glucose, the sugar is released into your blood slower and more steadily which is better for weight loss.

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease is a liver condition characterized by excess fat build up in the liver tissue. Following a low-GI diet could benefit people with NAFLD. A review of four studies found that low-GI and low-GL diets reduced liver fat levels and levels of a marker of liver damage called alanine transaminase in individuals with NAFLD.

The GI is a relative measure that does not take into account the amount of food eaten. It is often criticized for this reason. To solve this, the glycaemic load rating was developed. The GL is a measure of how a carb affects blood sugar levels, taking both the type and quantity (grams per serving) into account.

Like the GI, the GL has three classifications:

Low: 10 or fewer

Medium: 11–19

High: 20 or more

To make it simpler, the glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) are both measures of how a carbohydrate-containing food affects blood sugar levels. The glycaemic index measures how quickly a carbohydrate-containing food raises blood sugar levels, while the glycaemic load takes into account both the GI and the amount of carbohydrates in a serving of food.

What are the benefits of low glycaemic index foods?

Those who have diabetes are unable to process sugars effectively, which can make it difficult to maintain healthy blood sugar levels. However, good blood sugar control helps prevent and delay the onset of complications, including heart disease, stroke, and damage to the nerves and kidneys.

Several studies suggest that low GI diets reduce blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. A 2019 review of 54 studies concluded that low GI diets reduced haemoglobin A1C (a long-term marker of blood sugar control), body weight, and fasting blood sugar levels in people with pre diabetes or diabetes.

What’s more, some research has linked high GI diets with a greater risk of developing type 2diabetes. One study of over 205,000 people found that those with the highest GI diets had up to a 33% greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who consumed the lowest GI diets.

The low GI diet may also improve pregnancy outcomes in women with gestational diabetes, a form of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy.

One study showed that low GI diets reduce total cholesterol by 9.6 per cent and LDL (bad) cholesterol by 8.6 per cent. LDL cholesterol is also associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

Some evidence suggests that low GI diets can promote fat loss.

Some studies suggest that people who consume high GI diets are more likely to develop certain types of cancer, including endometrial, colorectal, and breast cancer, compared with people on low GI diets.

Recent research has strongly associated high GI and GL diets with an increased risk of heart disease.

A study titled Glycaemic Index or Glycaemic Load and Dietary Interventions for Optimizing Postprandial Hyperglycaemias in Patients with T2 Diabetes: A Review by Dionysius Vlachos concludes that patients with T2D should be encouraged to reduce the carbohydrate content of a meal, that is, to consume a lower GL meal as well as increase soluble fibre content in meals.