Dietary glycemic index and glycemic load, Aida El-Asfahani and Adel El-Asfahani
Aida Mohamed El-Asfahani, Department of Nutrition and Health, United Arab Emirates
Adel Mohamed Ali El-Asfahani, Al-Azhar University, Egypt
Abstract: This study investigated the relationship between dietary GI, GL, intakes of macronutrients and fiber with adiposity (measured by BMI) of a convenience sample of healthy young college students. Pearson correlation analysis, t-test and analysis of variance were employed for data management. The findings indicated that fruit juices, cereals and white bread constituted the highest sources of carbohydrate among the 66 food categories consumed by the students. There was a significant inverse relationship between BMI and intake of carbohydrate and fiber. The positive correlation between GI and GL was highly significant. The GI did not correlate neither with the BMI or any of the dietary variables. Differences between low-,medium-,high-GL categories for energy, carbohydrate, fiber, protein, fat, saturated fats, and cholesterol were highly significant. Mean GL of the normal-weight subjects was significantly higher than that of the overweight participants. This could be partially explained by the fact that in normal-weight individuals, the intake of carbohydrates and fiber were significantly higher than those of the overweight subjects. In conclusions, the current study findings suggest that the GL seems to be a more specific parameter for the assessment of glycemic effect of food intakes than the GI. Further research is needed, including long-term clinical trials, in a representative sample of college students.
Keywords: College age students, Food, Glycemic index, Glycemic load
