Non-Diabetics Can Ignore Glycemic Index When Selecting Foods To Eat

U.S. researchers report that normal, overweight, or obese people – non-diabetics – do not necessarily benefit from eating low-glycemic index (GI) foods that take a long time to raise blood sugar levels. Their five-week controlled feeding study compared the impact of balanced, heart-healthy diets that emphasized low GI foods with diets that featured high GI foods. Low GI diets that were part of a heart-healthy regimen did not improve insulin sensitivity, lipid levels, or systolic blood pressure any more than high GI diets. The researchers concluded that selecting foods based on their ranking on the glycemic index “may not improve cardiovascular risk factors or insulin resistance”.