Glycemic Index & Glycemic Load

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Connected to · 2

regulates · 1

Carbs & Fiber
The glycemic index (GI) is measured with 50 g of available carbohydrate, meaning total carbohydrate minus fiber. Human digestive enzymes cannot break fiber down, so it barely raises blood glucose directly; instead it goes on to the colon to feed bacteria. What turns into glucose in the small intestine is the starch and sugar.

contrast · 1

CGM for the Metabolically Healthy
The glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) are averages across a group of people, while a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) draws your own curve. In a study of 800 people, the same meal produced bigger differences in blood glucose response between people than different foods did, which is why the two often disagree.

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GI is a lab curve

EVIDENCEGUIDE 1 · MECH 1

READ THE ORIGINAL

In the small intestine, starch is broken down into glucose, absorbed into the blood, and blood sugar rises. The glycemic index () compares how much blood sugar rises in total over 2 hours when a food delivers a set amount of available carbohydrate.

The test fixes just one thing. Healthy volunteers who have fasted eat a portion of the food containing 50 g of available carbohydrate (roughly total carbohydrate minus fiber). The area under their blood-glucose curve over the next 2 hours is recorded and compared with the same 50 g of pure glucose, which is set at 100. Jenkins and colleagues proposed the method in 1981.

A high GI means only this: at that standard portion, the food raises blood sugar faster and further. It is an index of a food — not the post-meal glucose peak itself, not a health score, and certainly not your own curve. Each test group is usually only 5 to 10 people, and the GI is their average. So when you see a GI number, remember the three conditions behind it: a fixed 50 g, a fasted person, and the average of a small group.

Watch this step as a mechanism animationOpen mechanism

Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.

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Glycemic Index & Glycemic Load

Story

Connected to · 2

regulates · 1

Carbs & Fiber
The glycemic index (GI) is measured with 50 g of available carbohydrate, meaning total carbohydrate minus fiber. Human digestive enzymes cannot break fiber down, so it barely raises blood glucose directly; instead it goes on to the colon to feed bacteria. What turns into glucose in the small intestine is the starch and sugar.

contrast · 1

CGM for the Metabolically Healthy
The glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) are averages across a group of people, while a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) draws your own curve. In a study of 800 people, the same meal produced bigger differences in blood glucose response between people than different foods did, which is why the two often disagree.

Read full story

Stop 1/6

GI is a lab curve

EVIDENCEGUIDE 1 · MECH 1

READ THE ORIGINAL

In the small intestine, starch is broken down into glucose, absorbed into the blood, and blood sugar rises. The glycemic index () compares how much blood sugar rises in total over 2 hours when a food delivers a set amount of available carbohydrate.

The test fixes just one thing. Healthy volunteers who have fasted eat a portion of the food containing 50 g of available carbohydrate (roughly total carbohydrate minus fiber). The area under their blood-glucose curve over the next 2 hours is recorded and compared with the same 50 g of pure glucose, which is set at 100. Jenkins and colleagues proposed the method in 1981.

A high GI means only this: at that standard portion, the food raises blood sugar faster and further. It is an index of a food — not the post-meal glucose peak itself, not a health score, and certainly not your own curve. Each test group is usually only 5 to 10 people, and the GI is their average. So when you see a GI number, remember the three conditions behind it: a fixed 50 g, a fasted person, and the average of a small group.

Watch this step as a mechanism animationOpen mechanism

Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.