February 27, 2026
  • The concept of ‘Glycemic Index’ was first proposed by David Jenkins of the University of Toronto in 1981.
  • The glycemic index (GI) of a food refers to the property of the food to increase the blood glucose level and is a measure of the ‘quality’ of carbohydrates.
  • Glucose or white bread is used as the comparator. The GI of glucose is taken as 100 and the GI of other foods is given as a percentage of this. Thus, the GI of foods is classified as low GI (less than 55), medium GI (56- 69) and high GI (over 70).
  • The GI multiplied by the amount of the carbohydrate consumed, determines the glycemic load (GL).
  • Examples of diets with low GI include brown rice, steel cut oats, legumes, pulses and beans, fruits like apple and guava, and vegetables like spinach, lettuce, brinjal, broccoli, tomatoes, paneer, soya, nuts and seeds.
  • Diets with high GI include sugar and sweets, white rice, Maida, potato, white bread, sweetened drinks, jaggery, cornflakes and cookies.
  • If diets with high GI, i.e., the ‘bad’ carbohydrates, are replaced with ‘good’ carbs which have low GI and this is combined with adequate physical activity (exercise), it could help to curb the growing incidence of premature cardiovascular disease in India.

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