Food of the Month

We read the marketing blurb for book recently that boldly stated: ‘Superfruits are the product of a strategy, not something you find growing on a tree.’ So, we have asked dietitian and nutritionist Catherine Saxelby to put some of those much touted ‘superfoods’ incuding ‘superfruits’ under the spotlight for GI News readers in the coming months and report on how ‘miraculous’ or ‘super’ they really are.


Catherine Saxelby

Goji
Goji (wolfberry) is the latest ‘superfood’ to attract health-food evangelists and multi-level marketers. Small, pink-red, dried and a little like a sultana without the sweetness, you hear all sorts of claims – high antioxidant concentration to help fight everything from premature aging to chronic disease (heart disease, Alzheimers) and boosting your immune system, energy and metabolism. It’s hard to know whether it’s true or just marketing overkill. Reliable independent nutrition information on goji is hard to source – even what you see on pack varies wildly – so what follows are only average figures. If you add a tablespoon (10 g or 15 dried goji) to your cereal and you’ll add 30 calories, around 1 g protein, a little fat and 6 g carbohydrate. Compared with dried fruits like sultanas or cranberries, they have more protein (due to their tiny seeds), a little fat and a much lower sugar content which explains the taste.



Antioxidants and vitamins: Goji have a high nutrient density – in other words, they pack in a lot of vitamins and antioxidants. But again not a lot of analyses have been done by reputable sources. You’d expect them to be rich in vitamin C, fibre and antioxidants with their many anti-ageing effects. And you’d expect to find small amounts of many essential minerals, such as potassium, iron, magnesium and phosphorus. What we don’t accept is the hype about “500 times more vitamin C than orange juice” or “more protein than whole wheat” which is simply not true – goji may be on a par but not that much more.

Goji are being promoted as having the “highest antioxidant concentration of any fruit or vegetable” and “an antioxidant rating more than 10 times that of blueberries”. Antioxidant levels will depend on how fresh the goji were when tested and which antioxidant test was used. Some tests put tea at the top as the highest in antioxidants, others put blueberries at the top. You can’t compare them – they measure different things.
Most of the medical claims about goji are difficult if not impossible to substantiate. While there are more than 70 published studies on goji and health, most are animal trials. So it’s hard to give an accurate opinion about their role in cancer or heart problems. I haven’t seen a human clinical trial published in peer-reviewed journals. Maybe there’s some coming out soon which would be helpful.

Unique polysaccharides: Then there’s the ‘four unique polysaccharides’ in goji which marketing material harps on about. No-one knows much about these but they are a major constituent – around 50% – of goji. Polysaccharides are a form of carbohydrate. Most – like the starch in potato – are digested in the body; some pass through like fibre. There's nothing miraculous about this even if they are ‘unique’.

The take-home messages

• Basically, goji is an over-priced superfood that’s getting lots of hype and helping health food stores do good business. You can get goji’s nutrients from other foods much more cheaply.
• Eat them if you like them and don’t mind paying their hefty price. If you prefer the juice, be aware that it is usually a blend of 10% goji with apple or grape juice concentrate. This not only improves the taste, it adds sugar – between 10 and 13% – the same as in a soft drink! So read the list of ingredients and make sure you check how much sugar you are going to get in a glass before you part with your money.
• As for the miracle claims – that’s what they are: claims. No single food can cure cancer, enhance male sexual performance or halt Alzheimer’s disease.

For more information on goji, check out Catherine’s website: www.foodwatch.com.au.
Catherine Saxelby is the author of Zest and Nutrition for Life available online.

Low GI Recipes of the Month

Our chef Kate Hemphill develops deliciously simple recipes for GI News that showcase seasonal ingredients and make it easy for you to cook healthy, low GI meals and snacks. For more of Kate’s fabulous fare, check out her website: www.lovetocook.co.uk. For now, prepare and share good food with family and friends.


Kate Hemphill

Chakchouka
Try this tangy Middle-Eastern dish for a special brunch or an easy-to-prepare light meal with a green salad on the side. You can make individual ones. Spoon the tomato mixture into four ovenproof dishes, add an egg to each and bake at 180C (350F) for about 15 or 20 minutes or until set. Sprinkle with chopped chives and serve.
Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
2 small red capsicum (pepper), seeded and thinly sliced
2 small green capsicum (pepper), seeded and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1–2 small chillies, seeded and finely chopped
400 g (14 oz) can peeled chopped tomatoes
1 tsp harissa paste
¼ tsp salt (optional)
1 tsp caraway seeds, ground
½ tsp sweet paprika
½ tsp ground cumin seeds
4 large free-range organic eggs
4 slices grainy bread

• Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the sliced capsicum for 10 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and chilli and cook for a further 1–2 minutes, stirring to combine. Add the tomatoes, harissa, salt and spices. Leave to simmer gently for 10–15 minutes, it should be reasonably thick.
• Make four indentations in the mixture using the back of a spoon and break one egg into each. Cover and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes or until whites are cooked and yolks are soft. Serve immediately with grainy bread.

Per serving
1145 kJ/ 265 calories; 13 g protein; 12 g fat (includes 2 g saturated fat and 244mg cholesterol); 24 g carbohydrate; 4 g fibre



Smoked chicken, chickpeas & carrot
Smoked chicken is available from supermarkets, delis and butchers pre-cooked and vacuum packed. It is a great addition to salads, and if serving hot, just requires a little heating through. If you can't get smoked chicken, use a grilled or poached chicken breast. This dish can be made into a salad by cutting the chicken into smaller pieces and serving at room temperature or chilled.
Serves 4–6

1 large garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
2 x 400 g (14 oz) cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 7 cm (2-inch) pieces, then into thin matchsticks
1 cup (250ml) chicken stock
juice of 1 lemon
large handful of roughly chopped parsley
2 smoked chicken breasts, sliced

• Cook the garlic in a little olive oil in a frypan over low heat for 2 minutes. Add the spices and cook for another 2 minutes, then add chickpeas, carrots and stock. Bring to a simmer and stir occasionally until carrots are just tender (around 10 minutes). Stir in the parsley, season to taste and turn off heat.
• In another pan, add sliced chicken pieces and some olive oil and toss over high heat until heated through. Serve chicken pieces on top of chickpeas.

Per serving (6 serves)

1400 kJ/ 330 calories; 36 g protein; 11 g fat (includes 2.5 g saturated fat and 80 mg cholesterol); 20 g carbohydrate; 7 g fibre

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Myth: Milk causes mucus (and other dairy myths)


Nicole Senior

Fact: Milk seems to attract more than its fair share of myths. This is unfortunate as it puts people off eating enough dairy foods when we know they are an important part of a healthy diet. One of the most common myths is that drinking milk causes mucus. When this has been studied in controlled conditions it has not stood up to scientific scrutiny. The thin coating you feel in your mouth is temporary and a result of the creamy texture. By the same faulty logic, chocolate and shortbread are “mucus-forming” yet no-one is blaming them. The other old chestnut is milk causes asthma, yet diet only affects 2.5% of people with asthma and milk is rarely the cause. The real triggers are allergens such as house pollen and dust-mite, respiratory infections and exercise.

It is also commonly believed that lactose intolerance is very common. In fact, an Australian review estimated that lactose maldigestion affects as few as few as 4% of adult Caucasians. But figures are thought to be higher among people of Chinese or Asian origin and Aboriginal people. African-Americans are also thought to have a greater prevalence. However even people with lactose intolerance can digest small amounts of lactose (like the amount in a glass of milk) without symptoms, especially if consumed as part of a meal. The amount of lactose in yoghurt is much lower because the bacterial cultures break-down the lactose. Hard cheese has negligible lactose. For the super-sensitive there are lactose-free milks and yoghurts available. Having said all this, there are those with milk allergy who must stay well-away from anything dairy-based or they become ill, however this unfortunate group makes up less than 1% of the adult population.

Milk and dairy foods are considered a core food – they even have their own food group. This is because they are nutrient dense and provide a package of nutrients that are not found in the same amounts in other foods. Dairy foods provide a bunch of essential nutrients including protein, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, riboflavin and vitamin B12. They have a low GI and help lower blood pressure when consumed in a diet with plenty of vegetables and fruits. While whole milk, yoghurt, ice cream and cheese contain quite a whack of saturated fat, choosing reduced-fat and low-fat options gives you all the nutritional benefits without the clogged arteries. Most of us should aim for 2-3 serves a day as part of a healthy diet.



Nicole Senior is author of Heart Food and Eat to Beat Cholesterol available from www.greatideas.net.au
For more information on nutrition and heart health visit www.eattobeatcholesterol.com.au

Dr David’s Tips for Raising Healthy Kids

Out of sight out of mind
Parents often ask me what’s the simplest thing to do to help their kids to a healthy weight in a fast food/fake food world? My answer: turn your home into a nutritional safe zone. Purge the pantry and fridge of junk foods that are high in calories and low in nutrients and replace them with healthy alternatives. Why? It’s the easy availability of junk food can trigger overeating.



In fact, the tendency to eat simply because food is present was very clearly demonstrated in a study by Brian Wansink and colleagues at Cornell University involving 40 secretaries. Over a 4-week period, the researchers placed chocolate candies in clear or opaque bowls either next to or 6 feet away from their desks. After work hours each day, the researchers filled the bowls and tallied how many candies the secretaries has eaten. The bowls were rotated so that each secretary spent an equal amount of time with clear or opaque bowls, as well as next to the candy and 6 feet away from it. The result: the secretaries ate an extra 2.2 pieces of candy a day when the chocolate was visible through a clear bowl, and an extra 1.8 pieces when the bowl was on their desks.



– Dr David Ludwig is Director of the Optimal Weight for Life (OWL) program at Children’s Hospital Boston and author of Ending the Food Fight

Move It & Lose It with Prof Trim

Lift it and shift it
‘While I regularly go for a walk, and even sometimes go the gym for a light aerobics class, my gym instructor keeps trying to talk me into lifting weights. Is there any real reason why I should do this when all I’m after is some weight loss.’

Sounds like you might already be doing the weight lifting, with the extra weight you’ve been carrying around (no offence meant). However, putting that aside for a minute, let’s look at any possible advantages you may get from doing resistance training (which, incidentally, doesn’t have to mean lifting weights).

There’s little doubt that the best type of exercise for long-term weight loss is endurance (aerobic) exercise. This is where most fat energy is likely to be burned over the least amount of time. Endurance exercise where you are carrying your own body weight (such as walking), is also better than that where the body weight is supported (such as swimming or cycling). However, once you get to a certain level, it may be appropriate to look to something different.

Put it this way: Let’s say you start at around 100 kg and walk for 1 km. You might burn up let’s say 100 kcals of energy doing this. If you do it daily for several weeks, your weight might begin to drop, for example to down around 90 kg. Now, not only because you are lighter, but because you are fitter, it takes less effort to carry your body frame over the said 1 km. In fact it may only require 80 kcals, making the energy loss disproportionate to the effort involved. You would then plateau and stop losing weight.



You can do a number of things to break through this: You can go back up to 100 kg by carrying a 10 kg back pack, adding more energy to the effort. Or, you might change the type of activity to introduce some resistance exercise. This not only changes the effort, but can help maintain metabolic rate while your total body mass decreases (through decreased body fat). Hence you maintain muscle while losing fat.

So, while resistance training may not be recommended while you are still big (you’ll want to lose total mass as well as fat), your instructor might be providing some useful advice to get you to try some resistance work as you start to slim down. It can also make you stronger, which may be of value in normal daily living.


Dr Garry Egger aka Prof Trim

– Click for more information on Professor Trim.

Your Questions Answered

‘I’ve been attempting to use the glycemic index to help me consume the correct foods after intense workouts. But, I’m terribly confused as various articles on the subject sometime seems to contradict one another. Should I be having high or low GI carbs?’


Dr Emma Stevenson

GI News invited Dr Emma Stevenson from Northumbria University’s School of Psychology and Sports Sciences to answer this one: ‘The available literature is confusing and there are surprisingly few well controlled, scientific studies investigating the effects of high GI and low GI carbs on recovery from intense exercise. The early studies showed that consuming high GI carbs during recovery from exercise increased muscle glycogen resynthesis (over both a short recovery period of about 4 hours and over 22 hours) compared to consuming low GI carbs during recovery. This is not surprising as rapid muscle glycogen resynthesis requires a high insulin concentration and a high glucose concentration – both of which are observed following consumption of high GI carbs. More recently, my colleagues and I have shown in our studies that exercise capacity was improved in endurance athletes and following a low GI recovery diet over 24 hours as the low GI carbs allowed the athletes to burn more fat as a fuel and therefore possibly spare muscle glycogen. The same group also showed no differences in intermittent exercise performance in sports/games played when they consumed a high GI or low GI diet over 24 hours.

My advice based on our studies would be that if your recovery time between sessions is greater than a few hours then the most important thing is to consume sufficient carbohydrate and low GI carbs may provide the additional benefit of allowing your body to use fat as an energy source for a longer period after exercise. If your recovery time between sessions is short (i.e. less than 4 hours) then high GI carbs can provide a rapid source of glucose and result in a rapid insulin response that can speed the recovery of muscle glycogen. I would also recommend consuming a source of protein (milk, yogurt) during recovery to aid muscle recovery and reduce soreness.’

‘I am keen to bake my own low GI bread. I have found a recipe (it is one of Anthony Worral Thompson’s) that says: ‘This bread has an extremely low GI as the tough outer coating of the seeds makes them harder to break down.’ It has: ‘325 g strong wholegrain flour, 25 g wheatbran, 1 sachet fast action yeast (6 or 7g), 25 g sunflower seeds, 25 g sesame seeds, 25 g pumpkin seeds, 25g linseeds, 12.5 g muscovado sugar, half teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil’. This is cooked at 200ºC for 40 minutes or so. How can I be sure it is low GI?’



‘We are often asked about low GI bread recipes. Sadly, we don’t have one ourselves,’ says dietitian and co-author of The Low GI Diet, Kaye Foster-Powell. ‘In fact it’s impossible to predict the GI of a recipe for baked goods because of the way the starches can change with cooking and other ingredients in the recipe will exert an influence on it’s glycemic impact well. A recent study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that homemade breads that were proofed for shorter times had a lower final volume as well as a lower GI than those that were proofed for longer. Lower degrees of starch gelatinisation may explain this effect. Some early tests of the GI of specially manufactured breads suggested that at least half the “bulk” needed to be whole grains to effectively lower the GI. This would mean a recipe with for example, 250 g flour (wholemeal or white) plus 250 g whole cereal grains like rolled oats, rolled barley, kibbled wheat or seeds. These days, manufacturers use more novel ingredients like guar gum to lower the GI without using whole grains. With a staple, ‘everyday’ food like bread, testing is essential as it’s these foods (along with breakfast cereals) that can make a real difference to the overall GI of your diet.’

‘I only have a week to get into tip-top shape before a big, glamorous event. What can I do to reduce bloating and fluid retention and look and feel great?’


Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Here’s what Prof Jennie Brand-Miller suggests.
• Do two 30-minute walks every day for a week (a total of 60 minutes a day), including one first thing in the morning to set your body clock.
• Up your fruit and veggie (bar potatoes) intake. Eat nine serves of veggies and fruit everyday (at least six serves of veggies), and the more colourful the better.
• Eat for flavour, enjoyment and wellness, not weight loss.
• Cut back on salt and salty foods.
• Buy some magic underwear

Your Success Stories

‘I have just started my sister on eating low GI food, hopefully she’ll have as much success as myself.’ – Vicki
‘I am a 50 year old female who had VERY unhealthy eating habits. I had spinal fusion in my neck in 2003, as a result my thyroid went haywire! Then in 2005 I had to quit my fast-paced job of 17 years because of four more herniated disks in my back. I weighed 130 lb. in 2003, as of July 2007 I weighed in at 192 lb. I had awful heartburn day and night, food cravings 24 hours a day, no energy, and just felt awful and bloated the whole time. I came across a story on GI and weight loss in a copy of Reader’s Digest at my doctor’s, and I went straight to the bookstore.



In the first six months I lost 49 lb, have energy to exercise AT LEAST every other day, the cravings are gone, the bloating and heartburn are gone, my back is not in constant pain because of the weight loss, and my thyroid has stabilized. I still take synthroid, but the dose does not increase every four months. My skin and hair are much healthier too. Best of all I am now able to take full time care of my 87 year old aunt with Alzheimer’s, who can no longer live alone! The six months of eating low GI foods has made me feel 30 again. I do not even call it a diet, it’s eating good, healthy food for my body. Going to restaurants is not difficult either if you know what foods to eat, and what to stay away from.’

‘I am over 73 years old and have not felt this good in years.’ – Robert
‘On my last visit to the VA in July, 2007, they informed me that I was pre-diabetic and issued me a glucose meter to monitor my blood sugar. My wife had heard about The New Glucose Revolution and purchased the book for me. The attached detailed chart is a progress report that shows when I implemented the low GI eating habits. I use the glucose meter every other morning. Most interesting, to me, is how small the glucose levers became when I added a 5 day exercise program. Note the notes on the chart, i.e. trouser size and weight. The detailed record was requested by my VA health care provider.


Click on graph for full sized view

‘Thanks to all those researchers for discovering the information about the GI for us.’ –Sue
‘After spending most of my life overweight and trying every weight loss program there is, I finally found low GI. What a revelation. The program of eating was simple, I enjoyed finding out the GI values of foods and couldn’t believe how easy it has been to lose 19 kg, feel terrific, not hungry at all and have far more energy than before.’

GI Symbol News with Alan Barclay

Why do most dairy products have a low GI?
The unique combination of proteins and sugars that occur naturally in dairy foods that contain carbohydrates (cheese doesn't) are the reason that most have a low GI. In case you didn't know, the primary source of carbohydrate in dairy food is lactose, which in its pure form has a GI of 46.


Alan Barclay

We are often asked about dairy goods stimulating insulin secretion. First of all, it's important to note that all protein foods (yes that includes meat, fish and eggs) stimulate insulin secretion – that's why you may see them described as being 'insulinogenic' to use the technical term. However, the proteins in milk may be more insulinogenic than other protein foods because they are meant to help young mammals grow and develop. One of insulin’s many functions is to act as a growth hormone designed to drive nutrients into cells – not just glucose but also amino acids, the building blocks of new tissue. It is thought that milk may contain a unique combination of amino acids that in combination are more insulin stimulating than any others alone. There is no evidence that this either increases the risk of weight gain or lifestyle-related diseases like type 2 diabetes.

Milk and yoghurt offer us a a wide variety of convenient and calcium-rich foods and drinks for meals, snacks and drinks that are also low GI. Adding fruits and sweeteners often raises the GI of the final product. However, provided low or lower GI ingredients are used, the end product usually still has a low GI. There are now a large range of delicious and nutritious milks and yoghurts that meet the GI Symbol Program's strict nutrient criteria for kilojoules, saturated fat and calcium.

Milks
Just Natural Malt, Honey and Chocolate (99% fat free milk)
Dairy Farmers Skim Milk
Dairy Farmers Lite White Milk
Dairy Farmers Take Care Milk
Kids Selection Milk - 300 ml, 1 litre, 2 litre

Yoghurts
Nestle Diet Yoghurt range
Nestle All Natural 99% Fat Free Yoghurt range
Nestle Milo Energy Dairy Snack
Nestle Milo Mousse
Brownes Diet Yoghurt range
Dairy Farmers Thick & Creamy Light range
Brooklea light sensation range

Contact
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
CEO, Glycemic Index Ltd
Phone: +61 2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 2 9785 1037
Email: alan@gisymbol.com
Website: www.gisymbol.com.au

The Latest GI Values

Canned soups
Soups are great for light meals and lunches. Even as a snack in wintry weather. Over the years SUGiRS has tested a number of convenient canned and packet soups. Fiona has just completed testing another:
Campbells Country Ladle Chicken and Vegetable with Wholegrain Pasta canned soup. Here are the details:
GI 45; Serve size 1 cup (250 ml); Carbs per serving 11g; Glycemic load 5

Where can I get more information on GI testing?
North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
36 Lombard Street, Suite 100
Toronto, Ontario M5C 2X3 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web http://www.gilabs.com/

Australia
Fiona Atkinson



Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web http://www.glycemicindex.com/

New Zealand
Dr Tracy Perry
The Glycemic Research Group, Dept of Human Nutrition
University of Otago
PO Box 56 Dunedin New Zealand
Phone +64 3 479 7508
Email tracy.perry@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
Web glycemicindex.otago.ac.nz

See The New Glucose Revolution on YouTube

Making the Most of GI News

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GI News—June 2008

• The pros and cons of juices and juicing
• Prof. David Jenkins’s Eco-Atkins diet
• Gestational diabetes and a low GI diet
  
• Should people over 50 eat more protein?
• Do we get all the vitamin D we need from the sun?
• Low GI carbs benefit young people with type 1 diabetes
  

In a recent op-ed New York Times piece, Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang wrote about fears of a recession that may lead American families to loosen their belts literally. They make the interesting point that reining in spending in the short term, may actually cause us to be more relaxed about other things. What’s the connection? Sandra Aamodt shared the original research on this with GI News which explains the crucial role glucose plays in self control and why exerting willpower in one direction (such as cutting back on spending) often leads to backsliding in another (watching what you eat). Read all about it in Food for Thought. As ever in GI News there are all our usual features including recipes, success stories and our regular columns with Dr David and Prof Trim.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

GI News Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web Design and Management: Scott Dickinson, PhD

Food for Thought

Fuelling willpower
The benefits of carbs (glucose), the brain's critical fuel source, in tests like word recall, maze learning, arithmetic, short-term memory, rapid information processing and reasoning are well documented. All types of people – young people, university students, people with diabetes, healthy elderly people and those with Alzheimer’s disease – have shown an improvement in what's called cognitive function after eating glucose or a carb meal.



Willpower seems to be affected by our glucose supplies too according to Matthew Gailliot and researchers from Florida State University, which is possibly why being strong minded about one thing can lead to backsliding in another and helps explain why after firmly saying no to an impulse purchase you can find yourself eating a whole chocolate bar! Apparently even relatively small acts of self control deplete the brain's available supply of glucose which then reduces our capacity for exercising further self control until we have topped up the glucose tank. The Florida study involved numerous tests but a key one found that people who drank a glass of regular lemonade between one task requiring self control before beginning a second also requiring a fair bit of willpower performed equally well on both tasks, while people who drank a sugarless diet lemonade in between made more errors on the second task than on the first.

Writing in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology the researchers draw the conclusion: ‘… the body’s variable ability to mobilize glucose may be an important determinant of people’s capacity to live up to their ideals, pursue their goals and realize their virtues.’ They also point out that they used sugar in their studies because it is fast acting and convenient, but that ‘complex carbohydrates may be more effective for sustained self control.’ Research in memory tests has certainly shown that low GI carbs enhance learning and memory more than high GI carbs, probably because there is no rebound fall in blood glucose.

And there's more. According to Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang, willpower grows with practice. ‘People who stick to an exercise program for two months report reducing their impulsive spending, junk food intake, alcohol use and smoking. They also study more, watch less TV and do more housework,’ they write.
– Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2007, Vol. 92. No 2.)



– Sandra Aamodt PhD and Sam Wang PhD are authors of Welcome to Your Brain: Why you lose your car keys but never forget how to drive and other puzzles of everyday life.

News Briefs

Eco-Atkins diet: good for you and good for the environment
Prof. David Jenkins, the father of the glycemic index, wondered what would happen if you swapped the butter, eggs, cheese and meat in the Atkins diet for soy and other vegetable protein foods including gluten and vegetable fats, nuts, avocado, olive and canola oil. In effect exchanging saturated fat and animal protein for healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and vegetable protein.


Prof David Jenkins

The University of Toronto Eco-Atkins study of 44 overweight people with a high blood cholesterol level was initially conducted for four weeks with all food provided. Half the participants followed the Eco-Atkins (low carb vegan) diet, comprising 43% fat and 30% protein, with the remainder eating a low-fat NCEP vegetarian diet (25% energy as fat; 16% as protein) to compare the effects of different levels of protein and fat from plant foods. All the dieters lost around 4 kg (nearly 9 pounds), but those on the Eco-Atkins diet also reduced their 'bad' LDL cholesterol by around 20% compared with the low-fat dieters whose cholesterol dropped by around 10%.

After careful instruction, 23 of the dieters continued their eating plans for a further six months doing their own meal prep. Those on the Eco-Atkins diet lost a further 2 kg (around 4 1/2 pounds) and their LDL cholesterol stayed 5–6% below what's called baseline (what it was at the starting point).

Prof. Jenkins said that while the Eco-Atkins diet may not be everyone's cup of tea it also offers many environmental advantages compared to popular high protein diets where up to 1 kg of meat can be eaten each week. ‘Even if meat-rich diets were healthy and health professionals didn't have concerns about a potentially increased risk of bowel cancer, it would not be possible to feed a large proportion of our planet on such a diet.’

Talking to GI News, dietitian Sue Radd says: ‘What the Eco-Atkins diet shows is that just as not all carbohydrates are equal, neither is all protein – and plant protein has the added benefit of lowering LDL cholesterol and improving insulin resistance more. The 150 g of protein in the Eco-Atkins diet was from a mix of soy foods, gluten (seitan) and nuts. If you don't fancy gluten (available canned or chilled from Asian stores) or eating lots of soy foods, try other legumes such as chickpeas, lentils and beans and more nuts and seeds.’

The study has not yet been published, but the findings were presented at the 5th International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition in California in March 2008. For more details check out the study protocol.

Will a low GI diet help prevent gestational diabetes?
The jury is still out according to the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, calling for further large studies with longer follow-up. Lead review author Joanna Tieu, at the Women and Children's Hospital at the University of Adelaide said: ‘While our results were promising, the evidence is not sufficient to recommend changes in clinical practices, because of the limited number of trials. [The three eligible studies included only 107 women.] Our results suggest that a low GI diet may be a benefit to mother and child, however. This is because low GI diets such as fresh fruits and vegetables and unprocessed wholegrain foods tend to slow down the digestion of food. Slow digestion allows the body to better adjust to the load of glucose coming in after a meal.’

Gestational diabetes affects an estimated 4% of pregnant women in the US, UK and Australia, and up to 14% worldwide. No one knows exactly what causes it, possibly hormones from the placenta block the action of the mother’s insulin. Without enough insulin, glucose cannot enter cells. Instead, it builds up in the bloodstream, causing hyperglycemia. The excess glucose and other nutrients flow through the placenta, causing the baby's insulin to rise, thereby encouraging faster growth. This produces significant problems such as a very large baby, an increased risk of the shoulder getting stuck during birth and injury to the mother during birth. There is also increased risks of an induced birth or caesarian birth. ‘Gestational diabetes also has been associated with spontaneous labor and premature birth,’ Tieu said. ‘And children of women with gestational diabetes are at increased risk of obesity, glucose intolerance and diabetes in late adolescence and young adulthood.’
For more information, check out the Intervention Review Abstract.



Low GI carbs benefit young people with type 1 diabetes
For children and teenagers with type 1 diabetes, it is absolutely essential to do everything possible to achieve and maintain optimal blood glucose levels. Poorly managed blood glucose levels, can mean kids don't reach their full growth potential – this isn't an area where you get the chance to 'backspace' and try again.

Carb counting has been the key dietary strategy to maintain optimal blood glucose levels and reduce the risk of complications. A new study from the University of Newcastle and John Hunter Children’s Hospital has found that swapping high GI for low GI carbs brings additional benefits for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes on multiple daily injections. In the randomized study, 20 young people aged 8 to 17 with type 1 diabetes ate high GI (84) and low GI (48) pre-made test meals for breakfast containing 60 g carbs (4 exchanges). Each child's insulin dose was standardized and continuous glucose monitoring was used to assess changes. The low GI meal produced a significantly lower postmeal glucose response for 30–180 minutes compared with the high GI meal. The researchers also investigated insulin timing for a low GI meal and found ultra short acting insulin given before the meal remained the optimal insulin therapy.

What does this mean for young people and their families with diabetes? ‘Our study clearly showed that carbohydrate type as well as carbohydrate amount has an effect on blood glucose control after meals in children with diabetes. This was demonstrated in children on 4 injections per day who had already been taught carbohydrate counting. Substituting healthy low GI foods for high GI choices helps reduce post meal hyperglycemia and is good for the whole family. In addition, young people with diabetes should try to always inject before they eat as this assists blood glucose control,’ says study co-author and dietitian Carmel Smart
– Diabetes Care published ahead of print online May 5, 2008
For more information contact: carmel.smart@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au


Carmel Smart

What's new?
The Fertility Diet by Dr Jorge Chavarro, Prof Walter Willet and Patrick Skerrett (published by McGraw Hill)
Infertility affects one in six couples. There are various reasons – a structural problem like blocked fallopian tubes, or a disease of the uterus like fibroids or endometriosis. Many cases (18–30%), though, are due to a failure of ovulation – eggs just don't ripen and release when they're supposed to. IVF is an option, but it's time consuming, expensive, invasive and has a high failure rate. A simpler solution may be a ‘fertility diet’ aimed at increasing certain micronutrients and improving insulin sensitivity through diet (including low GI carbs), weight control and increased physical activity. We reported on this research from Harvard in January 2008 GI News. Here's the book that discusses the research in detail and provides natural ways to boost ovulation and chances of getting pregnant.



www.eatgoodcarbs.com
For the past fifteen years, American registered dietitian Johanna Burani has been counseling people and writing about how to incorporate low GI carbohydrate choices into balanced meals and snacks. Her new website shares her acquired knowledge and skills. Check it out: www.eatgoodcarbs.com

Who has taught you most about food and cooking?
It’s Australian Food Media Awards time. This year they have widened the field to give home foodies in Australia the chance to take part in the inaugural People's Choice Award. You can vote for one of the listed nominees: Margaret Fulton, Di Holuigue, Lyndey Milan, Ian “Herbie” Hemphill, Bill Granger, Stephanie Alexander, Maggie Beer and Joanna Savill. Or for your mother. All you need to do to cast your vote is go to the Food Media Club Australia website www.foodmediaclub.com.au and follow the Australian Food Media Awards prompts. Nominations close 31 July 2008.

Food of the Month

Juices and juicing
We are often asked about the benefits of juice as a way of totting up those daily fruit and veggie serves. Here, dietitian and nutritionist Catherine Saxelby explains the pros and cons of juices and juicing and provides tips on enjoying these (usually) low GI drinks along with some great fruit and veggie combos.


Catherine Saxelby

The juice bar cult has created a whole new market for freshly-squeezed juices and smoothies, often enhanced with a shot of wheatgrass, guarana, echinacea or ginseng. You can sip orange and carrot; peach, guava and pineapple; apple, capsicum and celery; watermelon, mint and beetroot – all healthy and on-the-go. Driven by the youth market, juice bars are a place for young people to gather after school, just as cafes are meeting places for older generations. And juice bars make fruit and vegetables seem exciting, enjoyable and tasty.

Fresh juices, along with raw foods, have long been recommended by natural health practitioners since the nineteenth century. Juices are said to be an integral part of detox regimes, used to ‘cleanse the digestive system’, ‘draw out toxins’ and make the body more alkaline. Some of these claims are groundless, but are capitalised on by juice bars and all-fruit drinks to highlight the virtues of juice.

Juice pros
Juice is healthy and natural. Freshly-squeezed, 100% juice with no added sugar offers many health advantages. It:

• Retains the maximum content of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and antioxidants. Juices are rich in all the nutrients of fruit and vegetables namely vitamin C, beta-carotene (which is converted to vitamin A in the body), folate, vitamin B1, niacin, vitamin K, potassium and magnesium.
• Can provide some of your recommended 7 serves of fruit and vegetables a day.
• Is helpful for fussy eaters who don’t eat many fruits or vegetables.
• Packs in nutrition for an underweight person with a small appetite OR someone recovering from chemotherapy who can’t eat much.

Juice cons
Fruit juice is fruit that’s concentrated. Juices pack in a lot of kilojoules/calories and represent fruit in a form that’s all too easy to seriously over consume. The fibre and intact structure have been removed, and with that goes the ‘natural brake to over consumption. Look at this comparison:

• A 200 g (7 oz) apple PROVIDES 3 g fibre and 300 kilojoules (71 calories) and TAKES 10 minutes to eat.
• A 650 ml apple juice (2½ cups) PROVIDES zero fibre and 1300 kilojoules (309 calories) and TAKES 2 minutes to drink. In fact a large juice is equivalent in food value to 4 apples but takes a fraction of the time and volume to drink and you are missing out on the fibre in the skin.

The bottom line

• Think of a large juice as more of a mini-meal or a substantial snack than just something to quench your thirst.
• Order the smallest size or share one with a friend.
• Try the fifty/fifty option and dilute juice with water or sparkling mineral water. Or fill up the glass with ice cube first then drizzle over the juice.
  
• Drink water if you’re thirsty (no kilojoules/calories there) and eat a whole piece of fruit.
• Fruit and vegetable juice combinations ‘dilute’ the sugars and calories so it’s not so concentrated. Try adding carrot, spinach or other green leafy veggies, celery, tomatoes or other vegetables you like with your fruit juice.
  

Juicy combos
Here are some fruit and veggie combos you can make at home or enjoy in a juice bar. Keep in mind that apple and carrot will work in just about anything and there's nothing like ginger for added zing.

• Carrot, apple and ginger (add in a bit of celery too if you like)
• Tomato, apple and parsley
• Watercress and pear
• Carrot and kiwi fruit
• Beetroot, apple and carrot (add a little parsley too if you like)
• Carrot and ruby grapefruit or orange
• Watermelon, celery and pineapple

Catherine Saxelby is the author of Zest and Nutrition for Life available online.

Low GI Recipes of the Month

Our chef Kate Hemphill develops deliciously simple recipes for GI News that showcase seasonal ingredients and make it easy for you to cook healthy, low GI meals and snacks. For more of Kate’s fabulous fare, check out her website: www.lovetocook.co.uk. For now, prepare and share good food with family and friends.


Kate Hemphill

Lemon and kaffir lime prawn pilaf
This is a lovely and easy dish to make. It can easily be doubled if serving a large group, or halved for dinner for two. The number of prawns can be adjusted according to their size or you can add any other shellfish you like. Kaffir lime is normally associated with Thai food and has a distinct fresh flavour. If buying a bunch, fresh kaffir lime leaves can be frozen until ready to use. If you can’t get fresh, dried leaves can also be used in this recipe. It's a real one-pot wonder, but you need to use a cooktop to oven to table pan. And for a complete meal all you need to add is a big crispy green garden salad tossed in a vinaigrette dressing. It makes generous serves for four people or a lighter meal for six.
Serves 4–6



1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 fresh kaffir lime leaves, spine removed and very finely chopped
1 lemon, juiced and rind finely grated
1½ cups (300 g) basmati rice
2½ cups (625 ml) salt reduced vegetable stock or water
16 green King prawns (shrimps), whole

To serve
2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped

• Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF). In a large casserole dish, sauté the onions in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until beginning to go tender. Add the garlic and continue to cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the kaffir lime leaves, lemon juice and rind. Tip the rice into the pan and keep stirring until all the grains are lightly toasted and covered in onion and spices.
• Pour in the stock and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. When boiling, turn off the heat and arrange the whole prawns on top of the rice. Cover with the lid on and place in the oven for 20 minutes. The rice and prawns should be cooked through. To serve, stir through chopped fresh coriander.

Per serving (based on 6 serves)
1243 kJ/ 295 calories; 15 g protein; 7 g fat (includes 1 g saturated fat); 42 g carbohydrate; 1 g fibre

Cajun stuffed peppers
This makes a hearty dinner allowing two peppers (capsicums) per person, or you can serve the peppers on a platter as part of a buffet. Wrap any leftover filling in a tortilla, or eat it as a ‘bean’ salad on its own. Cajun seasoning is a flavoursome blend of paprika, pepper, dried herbs and aromatics. It’s available in supermarkets.
Serves 4 for a main meal or 8 as part of a buffet



8 small red peppers (capsicums)
4 rashers lean smoked bacon or ham, cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch) pieces
1 small clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 x 400 g (14 oz) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 x 400 g (14 oz) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cob corn, kernels removed
1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan
1–2 tablespoons olive oil for drizzling

• Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC. Cut the top off the peppers at the top (to make a lid) and scoop out the membrane and seeds. Set aside on baking tray and keep the lids.
• Sauté the bacon in a non stick pan until it starts to brown, then add garlic and Cajun seasoning. Stir until fragrant then add the beans, corn and parmesan and stir to combine well.
• Stuff the peppers with the bean mixture and top with the ‘lids’. Drizzle a little olive oil over and bake for 45 minutes, or until capsicum flesh is tender.

Per pepper (capsicum)
884 kJ/ 210 calories; 14 g protein; 7 g fat (includes 1.5 g saturated fat); 20 g carbohydrate; 8 g fibre

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Myth: We get all the vitamin D we need from the sun.


Nicole Senior

Fact: My mother was recently told she had low vitamin D levels. I was quite surprised as she is an active lady who loves the outdoors and spending time in her garden. Living in a sunny country like Australia, surely she gets enough ‘sunshine vitamin’? Looking into this subject further, I discovered low vitamin D levels are a real problem for many people, especially older people whose skin is less efficient at making vitamin D from sunshine. People over 70 need three times as much vitamin D as those under 50.

The risk also increases in those living in less sunny climates, those with dark skin, those who don’t expose their skin to the sun for religious reasons, and those who always wear high protection sunscreen. My mother’s low vitamin D levels are now starting to make sense – she has taken skin cancer prevention very much on board and never goes outside without sunscreen, a long sleeved shirt and a hat. Low vitamin D levels are also passed on from mother to baby as vitamin D deficient mothers make vitamin D deficient breastmilk. Also of interest is that obese people are more likely to have low vitamin D because it is fat-soluble vitamin and gets trapped in body fat unable to travel around the body to where it is needed.



What does vitamin D do? It is vital for metabolising calcium and strong bones. In fact my mother’s vitamin D status was discovered after she broke a rib, albeit as a result of falling off a ladder! But the magic of vitamin D doesn’t end with bones. It is implicated in protection against cancer, Parkinson’s disease and high blood pressure; regulating the immune system; insulin secretion and blood glucose control. Research has also found a strong correlation between higher vitamin D levels and HDL (good) cholesterol levels. A recent study also found a link between low vitamin D levels and depression suggesting the potential for more vitamin D to boost mood – giving new support for the idea of a ‘sunny disposition’.

Vitamin D deficiency requires supplementation to correct, but how can it be prevented? It makes sense to get some sunshine each day if possible, but dietary sources have taken on renewed importance – especially in countries like Australia where skin cancer incidence is high. Foods containing vitamin D include some fatty fish (mackerel, salmon, sardines) and fish liver oils, as well as small amounts in liver, cheese and eggs. In the US, milk is fortified with vitamin D but in Australia, vitamin D is added only to some brands of dairy foods and milk alternatives (eg, soy milk). All margarine spreads in Australia and some in the US have vitamin D added making them good to include for general good health as well as healthier cholesterol levels. You can check the label to ensure minimal trans-fat levels.

Nicole Senior is author of Eat to Beat Cholesterol and Heart Food available online.



For more information on nutrition and heart health visit www.eattobeatcholesterol.com.au

Dr David’s Tips for Raising Healthy Kids

So you think you can dance?
There's no two ways about it. You can. So shake it.
I am often asked the following question: ‘Isn’t obesity mostly a question of biology? If you happen to be born with “fat genes,” isn’t there really very little you can do about it?’ It can seem overwhelmingly difficult to maintain a healthy body weight in countries like the US, Canada, Australia and the UK today. But this hasn’t always been the case. Since World War II, most people in America and Europe have had plenty to eat, but obesity rates didn’t start rising until the 1970s in the United States and the 1980s or 1990s in Europe.



Just as there are biological forces that push body weight up, there are powerful forces that keep weight down. Just think about having a large Thanksgiving dinner: afterwards, you didn’t want to even look at food for a while, and you probably ate less the next day. The bottom line is that the obesity epidemic is caused by our environment, not our genes. If we could return to the environmental conditions of the 1960s, the obesity epidemic would vanish. It may take some time to make the world a healthier place to live. But until then, we can create a protective environment around our children at home. Not too many surprises here in the following list.

• Stock up on good food: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, beans, fish, lean protein, reduced-fat dairy products.
• Don't let junk food such as cookies, cakes, sweetened cereals and sugary drinks through the front door (or the back one). Save treats for special occasions: You don't have to give up sweets entirely, but go out for them instead of having them at home.
• Avoid fast food. We did a study that showed overweight teens consume about 400 more calories on a day when they consume fast food compared with a day in which they don't.
• Make physical activity the focus of the home instead of television. Don't allow TVs in the kitchen or bedrooms. Instead, give children the basic tools to be active: jump ropes, balls, baseball gloves, Frisbees, cricket bats, tennis rackets, bikes, skate boards, surf boards. And get out there and have some fun too. Remember, if you are active, your kids will follow your example.

And here's the best bit, saved for last.

• Shake it! Have fun. Encourage your kids to dance. When kids are having fun, they are not thinking about it as exercise. As you know, I’m not a fan of sedentary stuff like watching TV, but perhaps reality shows like ‘So you think you can dance’ can play a part in getting more kids moving more.

– Dr David Ludwig is Director of the Optimal Weight for Life (OWL) program at Children’s Hospital Boston and author of Ending the Food Fight

Move It & Lose It with Prof Trim

Should people over 50 eat more protein? And does this need to be timed with exercise?
Losing muscle mass is a significant problem with age. Combined with an increase in fat mass, this can lead to decreased ability to carry out daily tasks, increased prospects for dangerous weight gain and a greater potential for damaging falls. Weight training has been proposed as a possible way of at least maintaining, if not increasing muscle mass amongst those in the sixth decade of life and beyond. But studies examining this have had conflicting results, giving rise to the suggestion amongst some medical practitioners, that lean body mass loss is an inevitable function of ageing.



To test the effects of nutrition with weight training, scientists have compared the results of weight training in older men after eating a normal omnivorous diet or a lacto-vegetarian diet. They’ve found increases in strength in both groups, justifying resistance training as an effective technique for improving muscle function with age. But muscle mass usually increases in the meat-eating group whereas it decreases in the vegetarian group.This suggests that while vegetarian diets may be healthy in older age, they could have disadvantages in the limited amount of protein supplied, particularly if resistance muscle work is employed, as it should be for musculo-skeletal benefits in the aged.

In answer to the second part of the question: more recent research has shown that protein is best taken up in muscle if eaten within 1 hour before or 2 hours after resistance exercise.


Dr Garry Egger aka Prof Trim

– Click for more information on Professor Trim.

Your Questions Answered

I am curious why cereals like Bran Flakes and Sultana Bran that look so healthy, and everyone assumes are healthy, actually have a high GI?



Bran Flakes and Sultana Bran (Raisin Bran in the US) are fibre-rich breakfast cereals designed to keep you ‘healthy on the inside’ as the ads say. But sadly they are high GI and digested in a flash because the long cooking times, the presence of lots of water, the flaking process and finally the toasting all conspire to make the starch very accessible. Here’s how Prof Jennie Brand-Miller describes what happens in The New Glucose Revolution.

‘Grinding, milling, flaking, popping and puffing grains radically changes nature's architecture and makes it easier for water to be absorbed and digestive enzymes to attack the food. This is why many foods made from fine flours tend to have a high GI value. The larger the particle size, the lower the GI value, as the diagram below shows. One of the most significant alterations to our food supply came with the introduction, in the mid-19th century, of steel-roller mills. Not only did they make it easier to remove the fibre from cereal grains, but also the particle size of the flour became smaller than ever before. Prior to the 19th century, stone grinding produced quite coarse flours that resulted in slower rates of digestion and absorption. When starch is consumed in ‘nature’s packaging’ – whole intact grains that have been softened by soaking and cooking – the food will have a low GI. For example, cooked pearl barley’s GI value is 25 and most cooked legumes have a GI of between 30 and 40 whether home cooked or canned.



I was diagnosed with PCOS about 20 years ago with most of the standard symptoms. My doctor did a glucose tolerance test, which came out to be normal. Why I am not showing any signs of insulin resistance, if PCOS is supposed to be caused by it?
Insulin resistance is the most common cause and 70–80% of women with PCOS have insulin resistance. But a glucose tolerance test doesn't pick up insulin resistance. It picks up the inability of the pancreas to deal with insulin resistance. If your pancreas has lots of ‘puff’, your glucose tolerance will remain normal, perhaps all your life. Only a fraction of people with insulin resistance go on to develop impaired glucose tolerance. Nonetheless, high insulin levels can cause other problems downstream, and the ovaries are particularly sensitive. Any woman with diagnosed PCOS also needs to have the actual cause of the problem pinpointed so she gets the right treatment for her and thus the best outcomes. Some of the other causes are anorexia, bulimia, stress, excessive exercise, high blood levels of prolactin and tumors of the adrenal glands, ovaries or pituitary gland. And for some women the cause is unknown. There’s a really excellent paper by Dr Warren Kidson on PCOS called ‘The Polycystic Ovary Syndrome – A Starting Point Not a Diagnosis’ which you can download here.

Your Success Stories

‘Just wanted to say I was glad to see that there is support for the low GI diet in youth with type 1 diabetes.’ – G.
‘Last summer (2007) my daughter had a sports physical 3 weeks before turning 15 and we discovered she had type 1 diabetes. Her A1c was 12.7. We read all we could and I asked the nutritionist about GI affecting her sugar (blood glucose) and was told it’s a myth. We were told the insulin to carb ratio was all that mattered. Well in the first month my daughter and I discovered that high GI foods wreacked havoc on her blood glucose. Her diet was more balanced before they got a hold of us. They were just telling us she had to have this many carbs at a meal. Whenever I asked about the amount being too high or that it was difficult to create a balanced diet with that many carbs in a meal, I was told that it’s only for a while until we determine how much insulin she needs. So we read and guessed and made our own adjustments and though she already had a balanced diet we tweaked it more; taking out almost all white flour and using whole wheat instead and other substitutions. Two months later her A1c was down to 6.3 and 3 months later it was down to 5.4. This was achieved without low sugar. We only had one episode on Christmas morning and that was due to homemade cinnamon rolls, insulin over compensating, and guitar hero!



I am tired of the fact that we try not to have her sugar go above 120–130 (6.7–7.2 mmol/L) two hours after a meal and are told that we don't need to worry about it. But the low GI foods achieve this without much difficulty. Not to say that there aren't special occasions when she eats a high GI food but she tries to throw in a real low GI food with it. Anyway just wanted to thank you for doing the research to support saying that low GI foods can have a positive impact on type 1's blood glucose.’

(UPDATE: Just before posting June GI News we heard the great news that G's daughter's A1c was 5.0.)

– This Success Story was sent to Dr Tonja Nansel of the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. It was Tonja's and her team's research on the low GI benefits for young people with type 1 diabetes that we covered in May 2008 GI News.

‘Fifty and fit.’ – Lance
‘Love your newsletter! Been a subscriber for two years. Four years ago I went from 205 lb (93 kg) to 150 lb (68 kg), and this morning I weighted in at 151 lb (68.5 kg): holding steady. Your website and newsletter has been a great help in education and allowing me to diversify my diet. While my story continues to have a happy ending, thanks to an understanding of the GI, my story is not that different to many others … Over the years my weight crept up, and by age 47 I was 205 lb. I had no formal understanding of diet and its effect on health and weight gain. Other than in my early twenties I quit smoking, stopped drinking alcohol, and have only eaten animal protein from fish and seafood. With these positive lifestyle changes I still put on the weight.

Without any awareness that the GI existed, I followed Dr Bernstein’s “medically supervised weight loss” program (a low glycemic diet), and lost 55 lb (25 kg) in 4 months. Once I started losing the weight I really wanted to know why, and why without the hunger. This led me to the understanding of the GI. Needless to say the weight loss changed me for life. At 48 (in 2004) I started on a physical fitness program: weight training and running. In the fall of 2005 I ran my first marathon (42.2 km/ 26 miles) on the original track in Athens Greece. Then on January 27th this year I ran in the Khon Kaen International Marathon in Thailand and qualified, in my age category, for the Boston marathon with a time of 3:30:14.

Over the last four years, I have had some ups and down along the way; gaining and losing a little weight. But the more I understand the GI of foods, the easer the weight management gets. When I see people struggling with their weight/health, I feel so fortunate to have the knowledge of how to easily manage my weight. It is nice to see resource websites and newsletters like GI News that continues get the message out about the benefits of a low glycemic diet.’



‘Most of the time and only because of glucose revolution I stay in the 104–120 fasting and 130–140 range after eating.’ – Gretchen
‘I was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (5 months ago) and wasn’t surprised, I come from a very strong family history of diabetes (insulin dependent) on both father’s and mother’s sides. I chose not to go on medication but to use the GI instead along with 45–60 minutes of exercise everyday. I have had very tight control of my glucose most of the time …will go weeks and can count on one hand the number of occasions that it’s gone above 150 (8.3 mmol/L). Most of the time and only because of glucose revolution I stay in the 104–120 (5.8–6.7 mmol/L) fasting and 130–140 (7.2–7.8 mmol/L) range after eating. I have learned so much from your newsletters and the New Glucose Revolution books and have lost about 20 lb (9 kg) – and all painlessly by eating GI way.’

GI Symbol News with Alan Barclay

Saturated fat and GI symbols
A reader recently sent in the following question: 'I have noticed that many food products labelled as being low GI actually contain more than 10% saturated fats. Doesn't this defeat the purpose of aiming for a healthy diet?'


Alan Barclay

I'll answer this question in two parts. First of all, foods high in saturated fat will raise blood cholesterol levels, and may contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes as well as heart disease. Globally, most diabetes and heart associations recommend that people aim to have less than 10 per cent of their daily kilojoule intake from saturated fats – this is equivalent to eating no more than 22 grams of saturated fat for the day for the average adult in the developed world.

To help people select foods with a lower saturated fat content, food authorities allow a range of claims. For example, in Australia and New Zealand, to make a low in saturated fat claim, a food must not contain more than 1.5 grams of saturated fatty acids per 100 grams, and a drink must not contain more than 0.75 grams of saturated fatty acids per 100 grams. However, it is important that a balance of healthier fats are also consumed, so higher fat foods with a saturated fat content of less than 28% of total fat are also able to make certain claims. Importantly, the recommendation to consume less than 10% saturated fat is for the total diet – not specific foods.

As for low GI claims, there are numerous low GI claims and logos on foods and drinks, and they are currently not regulated in most countries. As such, there are no criteria to limit low GI claims to healthier foods and shoppers should beware. However, the GI Symbol Program, and its Glycemic Index Tested logo, has food-category specific nutrient criteria for saturated fat, and the cut-offs for each food category have been set to ensure only foods or drinks with reduced amounts of saturated fat are allowed to be part of the program (generally less than 20% of total fat) . This does not necessarily mean that they contain less than 1.5 grams of saturated fat per 100 grams however, but it does mean that they are among the best choices within their particular food category. Therefore, to choose the healthiest lower GI alternatives within a food group, simply look for the Glycemic Index Tested logo. The amount of saturated fat will be shown on the product's nutritional label.



If you are a food manufacturer or health professional and interested in finding out more about GI Limited's healthy fats and saturated fat criteria for specific food products, please contact me.

Contact
Alan Barclay, CEO, Glycemic Index Ltd
Phone: +61 2 9785 1037
Fax: +61 2 9785 1037
Email: alan@gisymbol.com
Website: www.gisymbol.com.au

The Latest GI Values

Where can I get more information on GI testing?
North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
36 Lombard Street, Suite 100
Toronto, Ontario M5C 2X3 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web http://www.gilabs.com/

Australia
Fiona Atkinson



Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web http://www.glycemicindex.com/

New Zealand
Dr Tracy Perry
The Glycemic Research Group, Dept of Human Nutrition
University of Otago
PO Box 56 Dunedin New Zealand
Phone +64 3 479 7508
Email tracy.perry@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
Web glycemicindex.otago.ac.nz

See The New Glucose Revolution on YouTube

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