Diabetes – An Age-Related Epidemic

And The Glycemic Index Control

Diabetes is on its way to become one of the most common health problems in the world and it is frequently age-related. It is a chronic condition where there is too much glucose (sugar) in the blood. Keeping the glucose level normal requires the correct amount of a hormone called insulin. Insulin gets glucose out of the blood and into the muscles where it provides energy for the body. Children and young adults whose pancreas does not produce sufficient insulin develop Type 1 Diabetes.

Non-insulin dependent diabetes is called Type 2 Diabetes and typically develops after age 40. Eventually there is a shortage of insulin and treatment is directed to make the best use of available insulin and make the available insulin last as long as possible. Ninety to ninety five percent of people with diabetes have Type 2 Diabetes.

Treatment may include oral medications or insulin injections, however, watching what you eat is essential. Some people may maintain their blood -glucose levels within the normal range of 70-140 mg/dl (milligrams per deciliter) just by the proper selection of food.

The major components of food are fats, proteins and carbohydrates, but only the carbohydrates are converted into glucose and affect the blood-glucose level. Carbohydrates are a basic part of the diet and must be controlled but not eliminated. The secret to the diabetic diet is both the quantity and the type of carbohydrates eaten.

Until the 1980’s it was thought that sugar must be excluded because it was converted very rapidly into a rise in blood-glucose level. However, University of Toronto researchers discovered that 50 grams of carbohydrates eaten as potatoes raised the blood-glucose level about as fast as 50 grams of sugar while the same quantity of carbohydrates in ice cream produced a lower blood-glucose level than either; This and similar findings led to research on how the body actually responded to different foods. The result was a scale called the Glycemic Index, a ranking of foods based on their ability to raise blood-glucos levels.

Using pure glucose as the reference base, equal quantities of carbohydrates in other foods are rated by comparison with the rise in blood-glucose produced by pure glucose. Considering pure glucose as 100 on the scale other foods containing equal amounts of carbohydrates are ranked as a percentage of the blood-glucose rise produced by pure glucose. In this manner white bread containing 50 grams of carbohydrate was rated at 70% of the effect of glucose, green peas as 48%, low fat yogurt was 14, %, etc. Foods with a Glycemic Index (GI) less than 55 produce a relatively small blip in blood-glucose and foods with a GI of over 70 are considered high. For example instant rice is 91. The significance is that high GI foods are likely to produce more blood-glucose than the insulin available to handle it, whereas low GI foods do not over-load the body’s ability to produce sufficient insulin.

Use of the Glycemic Index is rapidly expanding abroad and is only now beginning to be adopted in the USA. There is good reason to believe the availability of GI data plus education of patients on use of the data in nutritional planning will be a significant step in the control of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

Complete information on the subject may be found in the book, "The New Glucose Revolution," by Jennie Brand-Miller, and others. Published by Marlowe And Company, ISBN 1-56924-506-1, the cover price is $15.95. and the book is available at local book stores.

Posted January 8. 2005