Glycemic response and health: summary of a workshop

Abstract

Interest in the glycemic impact of diet on health and well-being is growing among health care professionals and consumers. Diets with high glycemic impact have been postulated to increase risk of obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. A reduction in the glycemic impact of the diet has been proposed as a means of assisting body weight management, improving blood glucose control, and reducing diabetic, cardiovascular, and related risks. Foods are increasingly carrying labels that describe their glycemic properties. Yet, a scientific debate exists about whether a relation between the glycemic response to diet and health truly exists, and, if so, which descriptor of a food's glycemic properties best predicts its effect on health outcomes. This article reports the proceedings of a workshop at which a meta-analysis of the relation between the glycemic response to foods and health was presented and the merits of glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL), and glycemic glucose equivalent as predictors of health outcomes were discussed. The conclusions include the findings that many studies purporting to investigate lower GI interventions actually studied lower GL interventions; that unavailable carbohydrate (eg, dietary fiber), independent of GI, seems to have at least as big an effect on health outcome as GI itself; that lower GI and GL diets are beneficial for health in persons with impaired glucose metabolism, but that it is as yet unclear what they mean for healthy persons; and that the larger the divergence of glucose metabolism from the norm, the larger the effect of lower GI and GL interventions.

Antioxidant effects of resveratrol in cardiovascular, cerebral and metabolic diseases

“…This leads to a reduction in detoxification of ROS, resulting in lipid-, protein-, and DNA-peroxidation, and, finally, apoptosis (Rains and Jain, 2011). Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is a good marker for diagnosis and prognosis of complications in diabetes, such as retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy (Howlett and Ashwell, 2008). For example, it was shown that reduction of HbA1c by only 1 unit (8-7%) can reduce the risk of retinopathy by over 30% (Kowluru and Chan, 2007).…”

Effect of cooking on glycemic index, antioxidant activities, α‐amylase, and α‐glucosidase inhibitory properties of two rice varieties

“…Fibers convert intestinal contents into gel‐like substance that retard enzymatic activity on starch, thereby resulted into low GI (Oh et al., 2005). Howlett and Ashwell (2008) reported that low GI foods improve glycemic control by lowering glycated end‐products and improving insulin sensitivity. However, GI does not measure the quantity of carbohydrate, but its quality (Foster‐Powell, Holt, & Brand‐Miller, 2002).…”

Sugar and Salt in a Young Child’s Diet: Effect on Health

“…Существуют исследования, указыва-ющие на успокаивающее действие сахарозы и снижение болевой чувствительности у детей в отличие от взрослых [28][29][30]. Есть основания полагать, что сладкие продук-ты могут усиливать восприятие образов и запоминание новых слов детьми раннего возраста [31,32].…”