In plain words
Glycemic load is a way to rate a food's effect on blood sugar. It takes into account the kind of carbohydrate and how much of it is in a typical serving. Foods with a high glycemic load raise blood sugar more and faster. Foods with a low load have a smaller and slower effect. Fiber, protein, fat, and cooking all change the number. The idea is used in diabetes care and in research on pregnancy and fertility. In pregnancy, it comes up in conversations about and blood sugar through the day. It is a tool for comparing foods, not a score that marks a food as good or bad.
The deeper version
Glycemic load is the glycemic index of a food multiplied by the grams of available carbohydrate in a serving, divided by 100. Salmeron and colleagues (JAMA, 1997) linked higher glycemic load with greater risk of non-insulin-dependent diabetes in women, with fiber intake offsetting part of the association. The 'fertility diet' pattern, with lower glycemic load and higher unsaturated fat and plant protein, is hypothesized to act through this route (Chavarro, Willett, and Skerrett, The Fertility Diet, 2008). Observational links to gestational diabetes are consistent in direction, but intervention trials in pregnancy show mixed results. The controversy is whether glycemic load predicts clinical outcomes independently of total carbohydrate and fiber, and whether it adds anything beyond overall eating pattern.
Where it comes up
- Eating with gestational diabetesPregnancy: Eating
- Gestational diabetesPregnancy: Your Body
- Eating before you conceiveBefore Pregnancy
What mothers here say about glycemic load
No one has posted under this term yet.
Sources
- Salmeron J and colleagues — Dietary fiber, glycemic load, and risk of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in women. JAMA, 1997
- Chavarro JE, Willett WC, Skerrett PJ — The Fertility Diet (2008)