Dietary Glycemic Index, Glycemic Load, and Nutritional Correlates in Free-Living Elderly Brazilians: A Population-Based Survey

Abstract

Dietary GI and GL are important indicators of overall quality and quantity of carbohydrates from elderly Brazilians diet and are also associated with other macronutrients such as protein, fat, and fiber. The overall dietary GI and GL reflects other dietary aspects, such as composition of the diet and combination of foods consumed.

A Japanese diet with low glycaemic index and glycaemic load is associated with both favourable and unfavourable aspects of dietary intake patterns in three generations of women

“…For example, a strong positive association with carbohydrate and negative associations with protein, total fat and alcohol have been reported in Western studies ( 6 – 10 , 13 ) , which are consistent with our present study. However, while Western studies have generally shown a positive association with dietary fibre ( 6 – 10 ) , with one exception ( 13 ) , we found an inverse association between dietary GL and dietary fibre in our study of Japanese women. This may be due to the much lower intake of whole grains in Japan ( 43 ) .…”

“…Furthermore, associations of dietary GI with intakes of each macronutrient vary across countries. The exceptions to this are protein and dietary fibre, which have consistently shown inverse associations (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)13) , as was also observed in the present study. For carbohydrate, studies in Dutch adults, Spanish men and European non-diabetic populations have shown positive associations (7,8,10) .…”

“…Consistent with this, we found a positive association of dietary GI with carbohydrate in the present study. In contrast, a study in US adults showed an inverse association (9) and null relationships were reported in studies of elderly Brazilian adults, British adults and Spanish women (6,8,13) . For total fat, studies of British men and of European non-diabetic populations showed negative associations (6,10) , which agree with our findings.…”

“…For total fat, studies of British men and of European non-diabetic populations showed negative associations ( 6 , 10 ) , which agree with our findings. Conversely, no association was observed in British women or Spanish men ( 6 , 8 ) , while a positive association was observed in Dutch adults, US adults, elderly Brazilian adults and Spanish women ( 7 – 9 , 13 ) . Higher intakes of alcohol were associated with lower dietary GI in Dutch adults and European non-diabetic populations ( 7 , 10 ) .…”

“…In Western populations, dietary GL has generally been associated with many carbohydrate-rich foods, and hence strongly with carbohydrate intake, whereas dietary GI has been associated with not only higher intakes of major carbohydrate-rich foods (such as breads and potatoes) but also lower intakes of other low-or non-carbohydrate foods (such as fruit and dairy products). However, the associations between dietary GI and GL and intake of each of the food groups and nutrients vary considerably in magnitude and direction, depending on different food culture contexts (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13) .…”