Y
■ Rice ranges from high-GI (instant
white) to low-GI (Uncle Ben’s converted
white), with brown and longgrain
white rice in the middle. “Are
we going to specify for the public
which kind of rice they should eat
and which kind they shouldn’t?” asks
Pi-Sunyer.
■ Sugars range from high-GI (glucose)
to low-GI (fructose). Sucrose (table
sugar) is smack in the middle. What’s
more, “researchers have found no relation
between the sugar content of
foods and their glycemic index,” says
Pi-Sunyer.
And it’s not even clear that the rise in
blood sugar that comes from eating
high-GI foods leads to high blood insulin
levels, or that higher insulin leads
people to overeat, says Pi-Sunyer.1
“The glycemic index may account for
less than a quarter of the insulin response
to a food,” he suggests. “And
there is no evidence that the typical
post-meal levels of insulin increase
food intake or body weight.”
Which leads to the question: how
good is the evidence that low-glycemicindex
foods promote weight loss?
N o M a g i c B u l l e t
You’ll find a glycemic-index ranking of
foods in The Zone; Dr. Atkins; Good
Carbs, Bad Carbs; and The New Glucose
Revolution.
But unlike the other books, The
New Glucose Revolution was written by
scientists who have actually studied the
glycemic index. In fact, one of its
authors, Thomas Wolever of the
University of Toronto, was one of the
researchers who helped devise the
scale.
The glycemic index is no magic
bullet for dieters, says Wolever.
“I’ve yet to see evidence that a low-
GI diet aids weight loss,” he explains.
“One or two studies show it and a
number of others don’t.”
Despite the “Lose Weight” claim on
the cover of Wolever’s The New Glucose
Revolution, “it’s not really a diet book,”
he says. “It’s information about the
glycemic index and how to use it for
health.” Wolever’s research uses a lowglycemic-
index diet to lower the risk of
heart disease and to control diabetes.
“The chapter on weight says that a
low-GI diet may be helpful for people
the Atkins’
low-evidence
revolution