Glycemic Index & Glycemic Load of Foods

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Usage Note

• Glycemic load values in table are calculated per 100g of food.
• This online glycemic index database has GI data for 3,055 food items. Our Glycemic Index & Glycemic Load software for Windows has GI and GL data for 3,770 food items.
• Glycemic indices are color coded: Red for High GI, Green for low GI and Yellow for medium GI foods with gradual gradation between GI values. This means, for example, among the high GI foods, those with lower GI ratings will be less red and more yellow. Similarly with low GI foods. Those with lower GI are coded with greener color.
• Click on column header to sort foods by name or by Glycemic Index or Glycemic Load.
• Pie chart shows relative contributions to total calories from carbohydrate, protein and fat (and alcohol, if exists).

Glycemic Index Info from National Institutes of Health

The Glycemic Index (GI) is a measure of the glycemic effect of carbohydrate in a particular food compared to an equivalent amount of carbohydrate in a standard amount of glucose or white bread.
The Glycemic Load (GL) of a serving of a specific food is simply the product of its GI (divided by 100) and the grams of carbohydrate from a single serving of that food. It is important to note that a food with a high GI may not always have a high GL. This can happen if the food has very little carbohydrate (for example, meat) or if the food is consumed in small quantities.

Foods with a high glycemic index release glucose quickly and cause a rapid rise in blood glucose. Foods with a low glycemic index release glucose slowly into the blood.

Glycemic Index Info from Harvard School of Public Health

Carbohydrates and the Glycemic Index

Dividing carbohydrates into simple and complex makes sense on a chemical level. But it doesn't do much to explain what happens to different kinds of carbohydrates inside the body. For example, the starch in white bread and French-fried potatoes clearly qualifies as a complex carbohydrate. Yet the body converts this starch to blood sugar nearly as fast as it processes pure glucose. Fructose (fruit sugar) is a simple carbohydrate, but it has a minimal effect on blood sugar.
A new system, called the glycemic index, aims to classify carbohydrates based on how quickly and how high they boost blood sugar compared to pure glucose. Foods with a high glycemic index, like white bread, cause rapid spikes in blood sugar. Foods with a low glycemic index, like whole oats, are digested more slowly, causing a lower and gentler change in blood sugar. Foods with a score of 70 or higher are defined as having a high glycemic index; those with a score of 55 or below have a low glycemic index.

Carbohydrates and the Glycemic Load

Researchers have developed a way to classify foods that takes into account both the amount of carbohydrate in the food and the impact of that carbohydrate on blood sugar levels. This measure is called the glycemic load. A food's glycemic load is determined by multiplying its glycemic index by the amount of carbohydrate it contains. For good health, choose foods that have a low or medium glycemic load, and limit foods that have a high glycemic load.

Purchase Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load of Foods

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Glycemic index: overview of implications in health and disease from the National Institutes of Health

The glycemic index concept is an extension of the fiber hypothesis, suggesting that fiber consumption reduces the rate of nutrient influx from the gut. The glycemic index has particular relevance to those chronic Western diseases associated with central obesity and insulin resistance. Early studies showed that starchy carbohydrate foods have very different effects on blood glucose and insulin responses in healthy and diabetic subjects, depending on the rate of digestion.
Case-control studies have also shown positive associations between dietary glycemic index and the risk of colon and breast cancers. Despite inconsistencies in the data, sufficient, positive findings have emerged to suggest that the dietary glycemic index is of potential importance in the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases.

Glycemic index and obesity

Although weight loss can be achieved by any means of energy restriction, current dietary guidelines have not prevented weight regain or population-level increases in obesity and overweight. Many high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets may be counterproductive to weight control because they markedly increase postprandial hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia. Many high-carbohydrate foods common to Western diets produce a high glycemic response, promoting postprandial carbohydrate oxidation at the expense of fat oxidation, thus altering fuel partitioning in a way that may be conducive to body fat gain. In contrast, diets based on low-fat foods that produce a low glycemic response (low-GI foods) may enhance weight control because they promote satiety, minimize postprandial insulin secretion, and maintain insulin sensitivity. This hypothesis is supported by several intervention studies in humans in which energy-restricted diets based on low-GI foods produced greater weight loss than did equivalent diets based on high-GI foods. In a study of healthy pregnant women, a high-GI diet was associated with greater weight at term than was a nutrient-balanced, low-GI diet.

Glycemic index, glycemic load, and risk of type 2 diabetes

The possibility that high, long-term intake of carbohydrates that are rapidly absorbed as glucose may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes has been a long-standing controversy. In large prospective epidemiologic studies, both the glycemic index and the glycemic load (the glycemic index multiplied by the amount of carbohydrate) of the overall diet have been associated with a greater risk of type 2 diabetes in both men and women. Conversely, a higher intake of cereal fiber has been consistently associated with lower diabetes risk. In diabetic patients, evidence from medium-term studies suggests that replacing high-glycemic-index carbohydrates with a low-glycemic-index forms will improve glycemic control and, among persons treated with insulin, will reduce hypoglycemic episodes. These dietary changes, have also been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and can be an appropriate component of recommendations for an overall healthy diet.

Does Low-Glycemic Index and Low-Glycemic Load Diet Work?

Study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association finds that there is increasing evidence that low-glycemic load diets could prevent diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Adherence to a low-glycemic load diet (when it satisfies dietary recommendations related to fat, portion, etc.) seems prudent.
Read more...

Vegetables with Highest Glycemic Index

Below is a list of the 100 vegetables having the highest glycemic indices.

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Visit our partner website health-diet.us for additional nutrient data: fructose, glucose, sucrose, lactose, trans fat, fluoride, as well as a complete set of French nutrient database.

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Our glycemic index and glycemic load database have been translated into Italian, Croatian, Greek, and Czech. These databases can be accessed via the following links:
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• Italian: Glycemic Index (indice glicemico) and Glycemic Load (carico glicemico)

Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load of Common Fresh Fruits

Glycemic loads are per 100 grams of fruit weight.