GI Symbol News with Alan Barclay

Alan Barclay

A sweet blend: the best of both worlds?
Stevia was recently approved for use as a food additive in Australian foods by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). It has been used as a sweetener in Japan, South America and other nations for several decades. It is obtained from Stevia rebaudiana – a herb belonging to the chrysanthemum family which grows wild as a small shrub in parts of Paraguay and Brazil. Like many non-nutritive sweeteners, Stevia is 250–300 times sweeter than sucrose. Due to its intense sweetness, it is currently being blended with sucrose and sold as CSR Smart White Sugar Blend in Australia. Even in this form, it is still twice as sweet as plain white sugar, so in theory you should be able to use half as much, reducing your kilojoule and carbohydrate intake. Like many non-nutritive sweeteners, this may affect some recipes (lack of bulk, changes in texture, etc…), and it is more expensive than standard white sugar, Logicane™ and golden syrup.

Click for a complete guide to nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners along with brands that carry the GI Symbol.



For more information email: alan@gisymbol.com



Contact
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
CSO, Glycemic Index Ltd
Phone: +61 2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 2 9785 1037
Email: mailto:alan@gisymbol.com
Email: alan@gisymbol.com
Website: mailto:alan@gisymbol.com%20%3C/a%3E%3Cbr%3EWeb%20%3Ca%20href=

GI Update with Alan Barclay and Fiona Atkinson

GI of cereals and tubers produced in China
‘Most cereals and tubers produced in China have a similar GI with their counterparts produced in other countries.’ says Yue-Xin Yang from the Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in a study to determine the GI of some cereals and tubers produced in china to establish a database of Chinese food. The study which analysed the GI of 9 types of sugar and 60 kinds of food was published in World Journal of Gastroenterolgy. Some examples include:

Cooked rice GI 83
Brown rice (cooked) GI 87
Sticky rice (cooked) GI 87
Sticky rice (higher amylose) GI 50
Rice porridge GI 69
Sticky rice porridge GI 65
Black rice porridge GI 42
Rice bran porridge GI 19
Rice cake GI 82 Rice cake GI 82
Steamed bread (refined) GI 88
Shallot and meat dumpling GI 28
Shallot and meat steamed stuffed bun GI 39
Buckwheat noodle GI 59
Millet porridge GI 61
WoTao (corn + wheat) GI 65

GI testing by an accredited laboratory
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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GI News—August 2009

• Why not enough sleep is not OK
• Artificial sweeteners linked to diabetes
• How to cook a carrot
• Are chia seeds too good to be true?
• Are energy drinks all they are cracked up to be?

We are often asked about translated editions of GI News. Sadly we don't have the budget to fund translations every month. We'd be interested in your thoughts (and help) on this, and happy to talk to any experienced translators who would like to take this on as a pro bono project. If you are interested, please send us an email.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

Editor: Philippa Sandall
Design: Scott Dickinson, PhD
Web management: Alan Barclay, PhD

Food for Thought

Not sleeping enough and not sleeping well is not OK
‘Most of us don’t get enough sleep and this promotes weight gain and increases our risk of developing diabetes and heart disease,’ says dietitian and exercise physiologist Caitlin Reid in her new book, Health & the City. ‘Inadequate sleep also increases daytime sleepiness and our susceptibility to injury along with compromising decision making and concentration,’ she says. Chronic lack of sleep affects our health, our work and our safety. So next time a colleague boasts that they ‘get by on four or five hours sleep a night,’ don’t envy them. Pity them. And maybe suggest they get help.

US researchers analysing data of 18,000 adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found a correlation between BMI and hours of sleep. Those who got less than four hours of sleep a night, were 73% more likely to be obese than those who slept seven to nine hours. In a separate study of 924 adults, researchers determined that two hours less sleep per week amounted to an increase in BMI of 10. They’re still at a loss to explain how sleep helps our weight, but there are lots of theories. It may be related to lower production of the hormone leptin (a natural appetite suppressant) with sleep deprivation. In the meantime, it’s a good reason to make sure you get enough shut-eye.



Chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. Short sleepers (i.e. people getting less than six hours sleep a night), are prone to abnormal blood glucose levels, possibly putting them at risk for diabetes, says Lisa Rafalson of the University at Buffalo in New York, at the Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention in Florida in March 2009. Using data from a large six-year study, Rafalson and colleagues identified 91 people whose blood glucose rose during the study period and compared them to 273 people whose glucose levels remained in the normal range. They found the short sleepers were far more likely to develop impaired fasting glucose than those who slept six to eight hours.

Broken sleep is a problem too. Dr Katherine Stamatakis and Dr Naresh Punjabi carried out a small experimental study (published in June 2009 in Chest) with eleven healthy adults who volunteered for two nights of broken sleep. They found that fragmentation of sleep across all stages of sleep was associated with a decrease in insulin sensitivity and glucose effectiveness.

‘Most of us need between seven and eight hours sleep a night,’ says Caitlin, ‘but many of us aren’t getting enough. We toss and turn. We replay conversations. We think of tasks to do. Our phones beep and before we know it, dawn is breaking and the birds are singing.’

Caitlin’s top tips for getting enough shut-eye

• Establish regular sleep patterns – go to bed in a dark, quiet and comfortable room and get up at the same time every day.
• Turn off your cell phone.
• Avoid caffeine, alcohol and nicotine immediately before bed.
• Eat any large meals at least three hours before going to bed.
• Exercise regularly at least three hours before bed – any later can make sleep difficult.
• Try a snooze food an hour before bed like warm milk. Calcium helps the brain use the tryptophan to make the sleep-inducing substances serotonin and melatonin. Tryptophan is an amino acid found in milk, yoghurt, almonds, turkey and tuna.

PS If insomnia has become a chronic problem GI-guru Jennie Brand-Miller recommends a course in “mindfulness”.

News Briefs

Artificial sweeteners linked to diabetes
People who use artificial sweeteners are heavier, more likely to have diabetes, and more likely to be insulin-resistant compared with non-users, according to data presented at ENDO 2009 (the annual meeting of The Endocrine Society) and reported in Medscape Medical News. The researchers reported they found an inverse association between obesity and diabetes, on one side, and daily total caloric, carbohydrate, and fat intake, on the other side, when comparing artificial sweetener users and control subjects.

Lead author Kristofer Gravenstein said ‘We cannot say that artificial sweetener use causes obesity, we can say it is associated with it.’ However, the researchers suggest that artificial sweeteners may modulate metabolic rate through enteroendocrine cells, therefore contributing to the development of diabetes and/or obesity. This hypothesis needs further testing they say.

‘More research is definitely warranted,’ says the GI Symbol Program’s Dr Alan Barclay. ‘This is not the first study to show this effect. We don’t really know if it is just a spurious association because this particular study is a cross-sectional study, so it may simply be that people who are overweight/obese or have diabetes use more artificial sweeteners to try and reduce their calorie intake. On the other hand, it may be that some artificial sweeteners are adversely affecting the regulation of appetite. Aspartame, for example, contains the large neutral amino acid phenylalanine that may have an effect on our brain. The same coincidental increase in obesity started when aspartame was introduced into Australia too.

Mediterranean diet and GI
'The Mediterranean diet may be a good way of achieving low GI eating,' says Dr William Neville commenting on an article in the British Medical Journal that discussed the benefits of the Mediterranean diet.

Eco Atkins
In June 2008, we reported on Dr David Jenkins’ Eco Atkins diet, first presented as a paper at the 5th International Congress of Vegetarian Nutrition. The study has now been published in Archives of Internal Medicine. The one-month study compared a low-carb (27% carbs, 30% protein and 43% fat) vegan ‘eco Atkins’ diet with a high-carb (58% carbs, 17% protein and 25% fat) vegetarian one that included dairy foods and eggs.


Prof David Jenkins

What were the diets? The ‘test’ vegan diet provided the minimum level of carbs recommended by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine –130 g/day – by eliminating bread, rice, and potatoes but including high-fibre oat bran cereal and vegetables such as okra and eggplant. Protein sources included nut bread and tofu. Fats included olive oil, nuts, and avocados. The control diet simply extended the DASH diet in that it allowed low-fat dairy foods, egg substitutes, and whole-grain foods but eliminated (rather than reduced) meat consumption. All the dieters were provided with prepared foods.

The results. Everyone was a winner when it came to weight loss. All the dieters lost around 4 kg (8.8 lbs). However, that’s not surprising since both diets were low in calories – calculated to provide about 60% of the calories a person would need to maintain their weight. What does this mean? Well if your weight is stable on 2000 calories per day, you would have been given a daily food plan with 1200 calories in it.

Reductions in ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol levels and improvements in the ratios between total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol were greater for the low-carb vegan diet. Greater improvements in blood pressure were also seen in the low-carb group, although the difference was of borderline significance.

To answer questions about long-term results when people are not provided with prepared meals, the researchers are currently conducting an ongoing 7-month study reports Jenkins. Preliminary results show that while body weight reduction is maintained, long-term differences in LDL cholesterol are not as dramatic he says.

You lost it, but how do you keep it off?
As any dieter will tell you, keeping it off is the hard bit. The results of a small study published in the June 2009 issue of the British Journal of Nutrition, suggests that what’s needed are some really good strategies for appetite control to help you keep the pounds (kilos) off after you have lost weight on a really restricted energy diet. The study also showed there are benefits on the right diet that don’t show up on the scales.

In this Danish study, the volunteers were assigned to one of three weight maintenance diets after an 8-week low energy diet where they had all lost lots of weight: a low GI diet rich in monounsaturated fats, a low fat diet and a control diet that you could describe as being typically Western – high in saturated fats and high GI carbs. After 6 months, all the volunteers had regained 4–5 kg. But the typical Western diet resulted in significantly different glucose, insulin, glucagon and HbA1c values, indicating that it could lead to decreased insulin sensitivity long term.

How do you cook your carrots?
Results of a UK study due to be published later in 2009 could have a big impact on how we cook our carrots – and other vegetables too. Carrots are a popular topic here at GI News. Not only are they low GI (41) raw or cooked, they are rich in beta-carotene, have some vitamin C and fibre too. They are also rich in a nutrient you may never ever have heard of, falcarinol.



According to one of our favourite websites, NHS Choices Behind the Headlines, UK University of Newcastle researchers say that although eating carrots is strongly tied to reduced risk of cancer, the active ingredient is unknown and that the common belief that beta-carotene in carrots prevents cancer is untrue. They say that their previous experiments have shown that falcarinol slowed the growth of isolated cancer cells and tumours in rats, and that this may be the active ingredient in carrots. To see how different cooking methods alter levels of falcarinol the researchers:

• Boiled carrots then cut them into 1 cm (1/2 in) cubes
• Steamed carrots then cut them into 1 cm (1/2 in) cubes
• Cut carrots into 1 cm (1/2 in) cubes then boiled them
• Cut carrots into 1 cm (1/2 in) cubes then steamed them

Except for the ‘steamed then cut’ group, all the cooked carrots lost some water-soluble falcarinol. The ‘cut then boiled’ group lost most, almost 25% more than the ‘boiled then cut’ group.

How about flavour? Well in a blind taste test, most people (some 70%) preferred their carrots cooked whole before being cut. Read more here.

Foodwatch with Catherine Saxelby

Spotlight on chia



When I first read about chia, all I could think was: ‘Yeah, sure, sounds way too good to be true.’ And it does sound amazing – tiny seeds, smaller in size than sesame seeds or flax, yet supposedly loaded with so much omega-3, fibre, protein and calcium that they are proclaimed to be a super food. In fact, in many respects, chia seeds are on a par with flaxseeds, but with around 25% less fat.

In all honesty, I’d never heard of chia before. As with so many ‘new’ discoveries, the hype that accompanied it seemed to overwhelm it. But although new on our food scene, chia has a history. For centuries, the chia plant (Salvia hispanica) has been growing in its natural habitat in Central and South America. A member of the mint family, it was a highly valued crop and its seeds were a staple food for Mayans, Aztecs and Southwest Native Americans providing energy and sustenance. Chia is fussy about where it grows. The past five years have seen Australia's Kimberley region become the world's largest producer thanks to being spot on when it comes to latitude and climate. You can see how well it grows here in the following photos from The Chia Company (www.thechiaco.com.au).



What do they look and taste like? Chia seeds look like tiny sesame seeds and can be black, white or grey. They are sold unprocessed. They’re an ingredient the food producers say you can sprinkle over or add to just about anything – muesli, smoothies or yoghurt – without disturbing the flavour. When combined with water they form a thick gel which helps make them a good mixer.

What’s in them? Like all seeds, chia seeds are high in fat especially the good fats. At around 30% fat, they’re lower than sesame seeds (50%) or nuts but make up for this with an extraordinarily high level of omega-3 – unusual in the plant world. They have 18% ALA which is around the same as flaxseeds (linseeds) at 22%, making they are one of the richest sources of the plant form of omega-3 called ALA.

They are also big on fibre. In fact, at 37% they are an outstanding source of fibre, in particular soluble fibre. They have the ability to absorb a high volume of liquid and become thick and gelatinous, thanks to some mucilages. This makes them slowly absorbed. I asked Prof Jennie Brand-Miller about their GI and she said: ‘A long time ago, I was sent chia seeds (part of a project on Pima Indian foods) to assess their GI ... it was impossible because they don't contain enough available carbohydrate.’ If you’re counting carbs, 1 level tablespoon (15 g) supplies less than 1 g of carbohydrate as well as 5 g of fat and 6 g of fibre. And they are gluten free.

Chia seeds contain 15% protein – as much as from wheat – and a variety of vitamins, minerals and trace elements including folate, phosphorus, iron, manganese, copper and potassium. Like almonds and sesame seeds, they have a surprisingly high content of calcium, usually found in dairy foods, but how well this is absorbed is debatable.

Ways to add chia seeds to your life

• Sprinkle them over cereal and muesli.
• Mix 1 tablespoon of the seeds into 1 cup of water and add the gel to smoothies, juices, yoghurts and soups.
• Use them to coat rissoles, meatloaf or burgers – they add crunch to the exterior.
• Because of their neutral taste and light colour, white chia seeds make an ideal part-replacement for white flour in home baking. You can replace 2 tablespoons of flour with chia when you make muffins, cakes and slices to boost the fibre and add some omega-3 fats. According to the Bread Research Institute of Australia, baking chia seeds doesn't alter their nutritional profile.
  

Catherine Saxelby is an accredited dietitian and nutritionist and runs the Foodwatch Nutrition Centre. Her latest publication is The Shopper's Guide to Light Foods for Weight Loss (available as a PDF). For more information on chia seeds, visit foodwatch.com.au.

In the GI News Kitchen

American dietitian and author of Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Johanna Burani, shares favourite recipes with a low or moderate GI from her Italian kitchen (photographed by Sergio Burani). For more information, check out Johanna's website.



Apricot-apple granola with pignoli nuts
In the northeastern corner of Italy, where I have my home, the continental breakfast has been pushed aside for heartier, more substantial morning sustenance. For a long time, many people in this region have been eating muesli, a mixture of either raw or toasted cereals, nuts and dried fruits. This version is refreshing yet hearty and quite “northern-tasting.” You could try adding some ground cardamom (maybe a ½ teaspoon) to bring out the flavour of the apricots. You might also substitute agave nectar for the honey (just about 1/3 cup should suffice). A ½-cup portion should be plenty for most people. Servings: 18 – ½ cup serves

Vegetable spray
6 cups old fashioned oats
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup pine nuts (pignoli)
¼ cup ground flaxseed
1/3 cup canola oil
½ cup honey
½ cup diced dried apple rings (approx. 4)
½ cup diced dried apricots (approx. 7)

• Preheat the oven to 190°C (375ºF). Spray a large baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
• Combine the next six ingredients (oats through honey) in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly to coat with the oil and honey. Pour the oat mixture into the baking pan, and spread to distribute evenly.
• Bake for 25–30 minutes or until the oats are well toasted, turning the mixture every 5–6 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool thoroughly. Add the dried fruit. Store in airtight container. Can be combined with either milk or yoghurt.

Per 1/2 cup serve (without milk or yoghurt)
Energy: 949 kJ/ 185 cals; Protein 6 g; Fat 10 g (includes 1 g saturated fat); Carbs 29 g; Fibre 4 g

Cut back on the food bills and enjoy fresh-tasting, easily prepared, seasonal, satisfying and delicious low or moderate GI meals that don’t compromise on quality and flavour one little bit with Money Saving Meals author Diane Temple. For more recipes, visit Diane’s website.

One-pot Chinese chicken
This is an easy chicken casserole for a cold evening, but it is light enough to enjoy on warmer days, too. If other Asian vegetables or green beans are cheaper at your greengrocer, use them instead of the snow peas (mangetout). If the chicken thigh fillets are large, cut them into three pieces for even cooking. Serve with noodles or a low GI rice. Cost per serving (with noodles): AUD$2.85, and even less if chicken thighs are on special. Serves 4

650 g (about 1 1/2 lb) chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of excess fat, cut in half
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice powder
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
½ teaspoon chicken stock powder
1 tablespoon peanut or canola oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
1 carrot, cut into thin strips (like matchsticks)
1 teaspoon cornflour
3 baby bok choy, sliced, keep stems and leaves separate
120 g (4 oz) snow peas, trimmed, sliced into 3
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Mung bean noodles, to serve

• Marinate the chicken in 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce and the five spice powder for as much time as you have. Place the mushrooms in a small heatproof bowl and pour over ¾ cup (180 ml) boiling water. Leave for 10 minutes, until softened. Drain, keeping both the mushrooms and the soaking liquid. Pour the liquid into a measuring cup, add the stock powder and enough water to make 1 cup (250 ml) of liquid. Chop up the mushrooms.
• Heat the peanut oil in a large saucepan and brown the chicken for about 1 minute on each side. Remove the chicken from the pan. Add the onion and cook for 4–5 minutes until the onions are soft. Stir in the garlic, ginger carrots and mushrooms. Return the chicken to the pan, pour in the liquid, then bring to the boil, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes or until the chicken is nearly done.
• Mix the cornflour with 1 tablespoon of cold water and pour into the pot. Bring to the boil, stirring, then, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute. Add the bok choy stems, snow peas and remaining soy sauce, cook a further minute, covered. Add the bok choy leaves and the sesame oil and stir until leaves have just wilted. Serve pretty much immediately with the prepared noodles otherwise the greens will lose their lovely brightness.

Per serve (without noodles)
Energy: 1230 kJ/ 294 cals; Protein 33 g; Fat 14 g (includes 3.5 g saturated fat and 130 mg cholesterol); Carbs 8 g; Fibre 3 g



We have 6 copies of Money Saving Meals to give away
If you love Diane's recipes, here's your chance to try more of them. Hachette Australia has donated six copies of Money Saving Meals to give away to residents of Australia only. The first six people to email will receive a free copy. Write your name and postal address in the email subject line to be in the draw and whiz your email to: littlebrown@hachette.com.au

The competition is now closed and we have six lucky winners:
Mary, 'K' , Elizabeth, Janet, Edwina and Irene.
Hachette Australia will send you each a copy of Money Saving Meals. Thank you everyone for entering.

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Myth: Ancient grains are better for you.


Nicole Senior

Fact: Old and new grains are good for you.
Ancient grains such as spelt, amaranth and quinoa are fashionable at the moment (along with chia, covered in Foodwatch), albeit hard to get and more expensive. The rising popularity of these ‘old-world’ grains is great because variety in the diet, and a variety in agricultural production, is good for us and good for the environment. However, there are plenty of grains and seeds that are less trendy, but more available, affordable and just as nutritious.

Spelt bread is sold at a premium, but what it is? Spelt is an age old variety of wheat, and spelt bread has a medium GI, although some multi-grain varieties make it into the low category. While spelt is advertised as ‘easier to digest’, and ‘suitable for those allergic to wheat’, it is certainly not suitable for those with a wheat allergy or coeliac disease and there is little published evidence for easier digestibility. Some people attribute all sorts of health problems and digestive symptoms to eating wheat, and many will get relief from varying the grains they eat. However, those with symptoms often have a more complex food chemical (natural and added) sensitivity problem rather than intolerance to wheat. But variety is the spice of life, so vary your diet from wheat thrice daily with, for example, oats for breakfast, rice-salad for lunch, and barley hotpot or polenta-based dish for dinner.

Amaranth has been growth for thousands of years and traditionally eaten by the Aztecs. It is also gluten-free and provides a welcome ‘starch change’ to rice and potato on the dinner plates of those with diagnosed coeliac disease. It is slightly higher in protein than other grains at 14% (uncooked form) and the plant is very hardy. You can find amaranth breakfast cereal in health food stores and some supermarkets, priced at a premium. Puffed or ‘popped’ amaranth has a high GI. If you’re looking to eat something healthy and different for breakfast, try making your own cereal using a variety of puffed grains (corn, millet, brown rice, buckwheat), rolled oats, chopped nuts and dried fruit – variety in a bowl. Store your designer cereal in a cool place in an airtight container.


Photo of vegetables stuffed with quinoa: Ian Hofstetter

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) is grown in the Andes mountains and was consumed by ancient Incans, cementing South America as the hotspot origin for ancient grains. Like other grains it is high in carbohydrate (68%), low in fat (4.8%) and moderate in protein (12%), and it is gluten-free as well. You cook it similarly to rice – 1 cup dry quinoa to 2 cups water. It has a low GI when cooked, cooled and re-heated, which fits in nicely with cooking a large batch and freezing in meal-size portions for convenience. You can also use it to make a porridge.

I cooked some quinoa recently, and served it in place of pasta with vegetables and butter beans in tomato-based sauce. I enjoyed the tiny grains, but my beloved was less keen on the ‘funny rice’. Sometimes it’s hard being a food pioneer, but it won’t stop me!

If you’d like to find out more about the health benefits of wholegrains and how to cook great recipes using them, check out Nicole’s book www.eattobeatcholesterol.com.au

Talking Turkey with Prof Trim

Are ‘energy’ drinks all they’re cracked up to be?
Caffeinated ‘energy drinks’ (‘Red Bull’; ‘Mother’; ‘V’ etc.) have become a popular part of the soft drink market, and are also sometimes used as a way of losing weight. But are they all they’re cracked up to be? Do they provide energy? And are there any particular downsides?



The answers are simple – but complicated. In the first place, such products tend to be loaded with both caffeine and sugar. The caffeine (often the equivalent of 2–3 good strong cups of coffee in a serving), is likely to provide an energy ‘hit’ to the around 50% of the population who are caffeine sensitive. For these people, such ‘energy’ drinks are likely to cause jitteriness and inability to sleep, and possibly increase the adverse effects of stress. (It’s no coincidence that manufacturers have specifically targeted the youth market who tend to ‘binge’ on such drinks to keep themselves ‘up’ while drinking alcohol until late which otherwise might bring them ‘down’). For this reason, it’s also possible that such drinks might have a weight loss effect in some people (by reducing hunger levels).

The sugar in these drinks provides the biological ‘energy’, or calories, which makes them truly able to be called ‘energy’ drinks. This is likely to offset any weight loss benefits by increasing calorie intake (unless the caffeine is very effective in reducing other food intake). The energy it provides to carry out activity could be brief and intermittent.

A potentially more serious downside is death. A January 2009 article in the Medical Journal of Australia details the case of an 18 year old otherwise healthy young man in Port Macquarie NSW, who died after a day of moto-cross racing and drinking ‘energy’ drinks. Surgeons claim the excessive ingestion of caffeine and taurine in the drinks, combined with strenuous physical activity, can produce a heart attack by inducing coronary vasospasm.


Dr Garry Egger aka Prof Trim

For more information on weight loss for men, check out Professor Trim.

Your Success Stories

‘I started using the GI in the summer of 2008 in hopes of lowering blood glucose levels. I heard a physician on TV talking about how spikes in blood glucose level will cause a surge in hormones. I had been dealing with adult acne that doctors had blamed on hormones. So, I decided to give the GI a try. Not only did I see a lessening of acne but I have dropped 20 pounds (9 kg) in weight! I am hooked on the GI.’



‘Just wanted to write and say “thank you for your work.” By following a low GI diet I went from 196 pounds (89 kg) down to 168 pounds (76 kg) in 4 months. I have not felt deprived at all. In the past I have tried practically every other diet including very low carb diets but felt that I could not maintain them over a long period of time. Following the GI eating plan has made all the difference in the world!’

‘I had begun to feel tired and had an urge to eat anything sweet constantly. My mother passed away from a stroke, which was brought on by diabetes. And my elder sister had developed type 2 diabetes. Well, with my family history, and my weight at 210 pounds (95 kg) I knew I was in trouble, I heard about the low GI diet while surfing the web, bought a book on it and never looked back. Within 3 days my energy level increased, and I lost 4 pounds (1.8 kg). It’s been 4 months, and I’m down a total of 50 pounds (23 kg). I am never hungry. I hope to lose 25 more pounds (11 kg). By the way I’m 55 years old, going through menopause, and still losing!’ – Betty

Send us your GI success story.

GI Symbol News with Alan Barclay

Alan Barclay

Spotlight on artificial sweeteners
The sugar veto for people with diabetes has helped create a huge market for alternative sweeteners from Aspartame (Equal/Nutrasweet) to stevia. In the second of a three-part series, Dr Alan Barclay checks out the pros and cons of non-nutritive sweeteners.

Non-nutritive (‘artificial’) sweeteners provide few calories (kilojoules), carbs or any other nutrient. Typically they are hundreds of times sweeter than sucrose, so you only need a minute amount. However, so you can use them in a similar way to white sugar (e.g. by the teaspoon), the manufacturer usually adds a bulking agent such as maltodextrin.

These sweeteners have virtually no effect on blood glucose levels and can help you cut back on your calories if you use them to replace equivalent amounts of sugar or honey etc. Their major drawback is that they aren’t as versatile as sugar and honey and other nutritive sweeteners (see July GI News). This is because they tend not to be heat stable, they don’t brown or caramelise and they don’t add texture or bulk to food when used in baking. They also tend to be much more expensive gram for gram than their nutritive sweetener counterparts.



What about the elephant in the room: their safety? There are many stories floating around on the Internet about this. This concern is not new – the safety of saccharin was questioned when it was first invented 130 years ago. Aspartame and sucralose have both been thoroughly investigated, and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) keeps a register of any reported adverse effects. They are generally regarded as safe by both the FDA and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). As such, they can be used by all Australians, except for people with a relatively rare condition (1 out of 10,000 newborns) known as phenylketonuria. FSANZ also considers all non-nutritive sweeteners currently available in Australia to be safe for pregnant and breast feeding women, although some may choose to avoid saccharin and cyclamate as they both cross the placenta into the growing fetus, and may also be found in breast milk.

More to the point, do they actually do their job and help with weight loss? A recent review found little evidence that non-nutritive sweeteners had any benefits for weightloss. And there’s an interesting coincidence: aspartame and sucralose, for example, were introduced into the Australian food supply in the early 1980s and 1990s, respectively, and since then sugar consumption has been reduced by about 20%, suggesting that we have been using them instead of sugar as intended. However, since the early 1980s, rates of overweight and obesity have nearly doubled in Australia. Is this because people eat more high calorie foods when they use non-nutritive sweeteners – for example, eating a hamburger with the “works” and a large chips when they buy a diet soft drink? Or is that non-nutritive sweeteners confuse the way our brain regulates our feelings of hunger and fullness. Much more research is needed to answer this vital question.

Click for a complete guide to nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners along with brands that carry the GI Symbol.

For more information email: alan@gisymbol.com



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

GI Update with Alan Barclay and Fiona Atkinson

Dr Alan Barclay answers your questions

‘We grow ‘all blue’ potatoes, which are suppose to be high in mineral content, are they a better choice for a person with type 2 diabetes? Are some potatoes better to eat than others?’
‘I believe the blue (and other exotic coloured) potatoes have a higher antioxidant content, but they are most likely still high GI (I am not aware of any of them having been tested though). On balance, I think people with diabetes should focus on the GI, rather than antioxidants – as potatoes are a significant source of carbohydrate, and antioxidants can be obtained from other (e.g. non-starchy) vegetables without having detrimental effects on blood glucose levels. Marfona, Almera and Nicola are the potato varieties that I am recommending at present.’

‘Is it true that fructose doesn't require insulin in order to be absorbed? And if so, does it mean that it is recommended for those of us trying to ward off insulin resistance?’
‘It is correct that fructose does not need insulin to be absorbed by our body’s cells (not to be confused with absorption from the intestines into the blood stream where insulin is not involved, but sodium in most instances). The evidence with respect to insulin resistance is mixed – more research is needed to answer this question.’

GI testing by an accredited laboratory
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 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 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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GI News—July 2009

• Adding years to your life and life to your years
• The real deal on sugar and sweeteners
  
• Prof Trim on what drives us to drink
• Which foods are best for heart disease?
• Spotlight on psyllium
• Super foods or super expensive foods?
  
• Money-saving low GI recipes
  

‘10 years younger in 10 days’ promises the TV show. Of course we know that they are talking about looking younger, and we take it with a pinch of salt or three. But it is possible to turn back the clock, although it takes a bit more effort than a brief stint on a reality TV show. In Food for Thought, dietitian Giselle Brand, who is passionate about helping people ‘add years to their life and life to their years,’ looks at what we need to do to reduce the risk of chronic disease and really enjoy the ‘golden years’.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

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

Food for Thought

Enjoying the golden years
We are living longer. In fact, if you are a baby boomer or younger, chances are you will make it to the 100 mark if you are in generally good health. The real question is how are you going to get there? Will your ‘golden years’ be active and healthy ones? Or will they involve debilitating pain and chronic disease such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke and arthritis.

We have come to accept that these diseases are an inevitable part of aging. They aren’t. It is possible to reduce your risk of the chronic diseases associated with growing older by making some lifestyle changes. This is because we now know that the basis for accelerated aging and disease is low grade systemic inflammation caused by a number of lifestyle factors including being overweight, having high blood glucose, high cholesterol or high blood pressure. Chronic inflammation also plays a part as an underlying cause of excess body fat, and could explain why some people just can’t lose weight.

Throughout human history, inflammation has been both our saviour and executioner. As saviour, it plays a central role in our immune system by killing bacteria and invading pathogens, thereby protecting us. However, when this inflammation process is chronic, our body turns on itself, attacks its own blood vessels, nerves and organs causing accelerated aging and precipitating disease.

Our lifestyle (diet, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, stress etc) has become our mortal adversary. But we can do something about it. Decreasing inflammation in the body today is the most prudent measure to resisting tomorrow’s ailments.

10 really rejuvenating tips

• Don’t smoke – it’s never too late to quit.
• If you drink alcohol, be moderate.
• Get 7–8 hours of sleep a day.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Make healthy food choices.
• Reduce stress, stay in touch with friends and family, and maintain a positive attitude to life.
• Get 10–20 minutes of sunlight a day.
• Reduce insulin resistance.
• Drink water to quench your thirst.
• Exercise regularly.

Giselle Brand

For more information on 'adding years to your life and life to your years', check out Giselle's website.

News Briefs

Low-fat chocolate milk and recovery after exercise
A recent study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise reported that post-exercise consumption of low-fat chocolate milk provided equal or possibly superior muscle recovery compared to a high-carbohydrate recovery beverage with the same number of calories. We asked Dr Emma Stevenson to comment.

‘Several studies have reported that milk can be just as effective as sports drinks to aid recovery in athletes,’ she says. ‘This latest one has focused on having chocolate milk during recovery. However, Cockburn and colleagues found consuming plain semi-skim milk following exercise that resulted in muscle damage was more effective than a carbohydrate containing sports drink at attenuating the decrease in muscle performance and increase in creatine kinase and myoglobin (these are blood markers of muscle damage).



Another recently published study supports the earlier finding of Karp and colleagues that chocolate milk not only reduces muscle damage following exercise, but can also improved subsequent endurance capacity in well trained cyclists.

Milk has a low GI and so can be a healthier alternative to sports drinks. Further research is needed to see whether drinking milk before or after exercise is beneficial for active people (these previous studies have been carried out in well-trained athletes). It may also have beneficial effects on substrate metabolism and appetite.’

First 3 months critical
There’s a growing body of evidence that the first 3 months of life is a really critical period. Dutch researchers who compared the growth of 217 infants during their first year of life with their health status as young adults found that increased weight gain relative to height during the first 3 months was associated with increased risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease including reduced insulin sensitivity, lower HDL cholesterol, and higher total : HDL cholesterol ratio according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Is it really heart healthy?
Despite claims that many foods and diets are heart healthy, a new study by researchers from McMaster University published in Archives of Internal Medicine clarifies what foods and dietary patterns are best for reducing the risk of heart disease.



The researchers evaluated almost 200 studies on diet and heart disease over more than 50 years and found overall there are certain food groups or dietary patterns that are beneficial including vegetables, nuts, monounsaturated fatty acids, and overall ‘healthy’ dietary patterns such as the Mediterranean diet which incorporates generous amounts of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, such as olive and canola oil, small portions of nuts, red wine in moderation, very little red meat and fish on a regular basis. They also conclude that there’s strong evidence that high GI foods and trans fatty acids are harmful.

Lead author Andrew Mente, PhD, says: ‘The findings highlight the importance of improving overall diet quality to maintain good cardiovascular health. People need to be cautious and not become too preoccupied with a few individual nutrients or food items, while ignoring diet in its totality. In fact, the evidence gathered on most individual dietary components is too modest to be conclusive, and in many instances, clinical trials evaluating coronary outcomes are absent. On the other hand, the evidence clearly shows that adherence to a quality dietary pattern such as the Mediterranean diet is highly protective against coronary heart disease and total mortality.’

‘Eating fish twice a week can help prevent eye disease’ – behind the headlines


Visit the UK’s NHS Choices website and you will find a page called Behind the Headlines. It takes the biggest health news stories each day, finds the real scientific evidence behind them, and gives you a clear and simple summary of The Facts under the following headings:

• Where did the story come from?
• What kind of scientific study was this?
• What were the results of the study?
• What does the NHS Knowledge Service make of this study?

Here’s what NHS Choices says about the latest oily fish plus low GI foods study from Tufts University researchers. ‘The complex results from this study suggest that a diet rich in the DHA form of omega-3, may reduce the progression of early stage AMD in people not taking certain dietary supplements. Also, a low GI diet rich in omega-3 may reduce the risk of progression to advanced AMD. It should be noted that the results of this research may have been affected by factors other than the dietary factors addressed and require careful interpretation. In general, eating a healthy, balanced diet, including omega-3 fatty acids and low GI foods, may have various health benefits.

In conclusion they state: ‘The study did not report the number of people or eyes with AMD progression in each group. This makes it difficult to determine the importance of the reported changes in risk. Also, the authors did not report exactly how many people fell into each of the groups compared. If very few people fell into some of the groups, this would reduce the reliability of results.’

Read the whole story at the NHS website.

Making traditional recipes healthier


Azmina Govindji

Check out this delicious new resource: The Aga Khan Health Board for the UK and theismaili.org – the official website of the global Ismaili Muslim community – have launched this online nutrition centre. It features a library of traditional African, South and Central Asian and Middle eastern recipes with nutrition info and healthy eating tips. ‘This is a site about traditional recipes and how to make them healthier,’ says registered dietitian & TV nutritionist Azmina Govindji. ‘As the site develops, we will offer more recipes from more diverse backgrounds, as we hope that this will become a useful tool for many more communities.’


Chicken Tikka Masala

Foodwatch with Catherine Saxelby

Spotlight on psyllium


Catherine Saxelby

Psyllium (pronounced sill-ee-um), which looks like fine flakes of wheat bran and consists of the outer husks of Plantago psyllium or Psyllium ovata seeds, is an important source of soluble fibre. In fact, it contains 5–6 times more soluble fibre than oat bran. It’s also rich in mucilages which take up water, swell and expand in size to form a gelatinous mass.

We need about 15 g (1/2 oz) of soluble fibre a day – around half of our total fibre intake – although there is no official figure. Here’s what soluble fibre can do for you:

• It helps to lower cholesterol by binding to the ‘bad’ cholesterol and swishing it out of the body via the bowel. To make up for the drop in cholesterol, the liver draws more from our bloodstream so blood cholesterol falls.
• It also bulks up the stool volume and softness, so it’s easy to pass.
• It forms a gel in the intestines, which slows stomach emptying, delaying the absorption of glucose from your blood stream.

Psyllium sounds like an obvious solution to get the soluble fibre we need. However, it’s not very tasty – in fact it looks and tastes pretty much like chaff. You also need to consume a serious quantity to lower your cholesterol and this can be difficult to achieve day in, day out. The easiest way I’ve found to include enough psyllium in the diet is to stir it through your usual cereal or mix 2 teaspoons of it in milk or juice and drink it down once a day. Or you can stir it into fruit yoghurt and spoon it down. Make sure you eat it straight away as it gets gluggy. You can also use it in place of a quarter of the flour when you bake muffins and cakes. Being gluten-free, it helps add fibre into the diets of coeliacs.



There are a couple of commercial products made with psyllium that are an easier way to get the soluble fibre you need.

Kellogg’s Guardian cereal is made from whole wheat and whole barley with 12% psyllium and tastes quite pleasant for breakfast - a little like corn flakes but more golden and less crunchy (also less salty). One bowl or 2/3 cup (30 g/1 oz) gives you around 6 g fibre including 3 g soluble fibre, which is quite amazing from one single food. As a yardstick, 30 g All-Bran supplies 9 g fibre but less than 1 g soluble fibre. You’ll need to consume around two-thirds of a cup of Guardian each day, although this depends on how much fruit, dried fruit, legumes or grain breads you eat (all contributors to soluble fibre). It has a very low GI (37) so makes an excellent breakfast cereal for those with diabetes.

Psyllium is the basis of several laxatives including Metamucil and Fybogel. You simply mix the powder into a glass of water or juice twice a day.

When you start using psyllium, start gradually, as it has a powerful laxative effect. Some people report a lot of flatulence (wind) when they start using it, so be warned. This settles down after a week but it’s something to be aware of. Drink plenty of water as well.

What’s the bottom line? Psyllium doesn’t have the rich nutrient content of other time-honoured supplements like wheatgerm (packed with B vitamins) or lecithin (B vitamins and choline) or flaxseed (high in omega-3s and phyto-oestrogens). But as a cholesterol-lowerer, it’s superior to oat bran. As a regularity aid, it wins over wheat bran. I like to think of it as a ‘super supplement’ – and definitely a worthy addition in the arsenal of dietary weapons to control your blood glucose levels.



Catherine Saxelby is an accredited dietitian and nutritionist and runs the Foodwatch Nutrition Centre. Her latest publication is The Shopper's Guide to Light Foods for Weight Loss (available as a PDF). For more information or to order a copy, visit www.foodwatch.com.au.

Low GI Recipes of the Month

American dietitian, Johanna Burani invites GI News readers to try recipes from her Italian kitchen (photographed by Sergio Burani).


Johanna Burani

Cream of carrot and celery soup
This simple, earthy soup tastes like it came right out of Mother Nature’s very own soup kettle! It’s wholesome, smooth and absolutely delicious. Make a double batch and freeze some. It will taste just as good the second time – if not even better.
Serves 4 (approx. 1½ cup each)



4 carrots (approx. 230 g/8 oz)
1 small head celery (approx. 700 g/1½ lb)
2 scant teaspoons caraway seeds
4 slices hearty rye bread
4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
4 teaspoons grated parmigiano reggiano

• Wash the vegetables with a vegetable brush. Cut off the ends and cut in half horizontally. Place vegetables in a large pot with 5 cups of lightly salted water. Cover and cook over moderate heat for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
• Remove a quarter of the vegetables at a time and place in a blender. Process on high for a smooth puree, adding some of the cooking liquid if needed. Pour the puree into a medium sized pot. Continue processing all the vegetables until they are all pureed and in the pot. Add the remaining broth and keep warm on a low heat. Stir in the caraway seeds and mix well.
• Place a slice of bread on the bottom of each soup bowl. Ladle equal amounts of the hot soup into each bowl, over the bread. Drizzle a teaspoon of oil on each bowl of soup, sprinkle with the grated cheese and serve hot.

Per serve
Energy: 777 kJ/ 185 cals; Protein 5 g; Fat 7 g (includes 1 g saturated fat and 1 mg cholesterol); Carbs 28 g; Fibre 7 g

Each month, GI News readers can shop smart, cook smart, eat well and save money with Diane Temple's Money Saving Meals.



Melt-in-the-mouth beef goulash
The big cost savings (it worked out at AUD $2.25 a serve or $2.10 without the pasta) came with using more vegetables and less meat than many standard goulash recipes, and making the stock with a stock powder (I like Vegeta for its flavour). This recipe uses the Australian 20 mL tablespoon, so US and UK readers will need to add an extra teaspoon of paprika and vinegar). About 20 mins to prepare and 1 hour 50 mins to cook.
Makes 8 serves



1 tablespoon olive oil
900 g (2 lbs) chuck steak, visible fat trimmed and chopped into large chunks
3 onions, peeled, halved and sliced
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 red capsicum, seeded and diced
1 green capsicum, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon paprika
¼ cup tomato paste
3 cups beef or chicken stock
250 g (9 oz) flat mushrooms, wiped and sliced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan and brown the meat on all sides in 2–3 batches for 2–3 minutes for each batch over medium heat. Don’t overcrowd the pan or you’ll end up stewing the meat not browning it. Lift the meat out and set aside.
• Sauté the onion for 10 minutes over low heat until it is very soft and starting to caramelise, adding a little stock if it sticks to the pan. Add the red wine vinegar and sugar and stir for 1 minute to deglaze the pan (dislodging any delicious bits stuck on the bottom).
• Return the meat to the pan with the red and green capsicum, paprika, tomato paste and stock. Stir well to combine, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer on a low heat for 1 hour. Stir in the mushrooms and continue simmering for 30 minutes, until the meat is almost falling-apart tender.
  
• Scatter over the parsley and serve with rice (a low GI one of course), or with pasta, mashed sweet potato, or sourdough or a grainy bread to mop up the juices.

Per serve (with pasta)
Energy: 1410 kJ/ 336 cals; Protein 29 g; Fat 9 g (includes 3 g saturated fat and 67 mg cholesterol); Carbs 34 g; Fibre 3 g

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Myth: Superfoods make you super healthy


Nicole Senior

Fact: Superfoods and supplements are over-hyped and super-expensive
The term ‘superfood’ was coined to describe foods with high levels of nutrients and phytochemicals that offer health benefits such as green leafy vegetables, berries and oily fish. However, food and supplement marketers have ‘gone to town’ with the whole concept and make inflated promises and exaggerated claims. While I used to love talking about superfoods, I now brace myself for the next ridiculous product claim. The first examples that come to mind are superfood supplements – not even foods at all. A cursory internet search yields claims of such enthusiasm and exaggeration as to qualify as fiction.

Take acai berries. According to the promo, they contain “every single essential nutrient required for humans”, or are “the most perfect food on the planet”. These claims are unsubstantiated and if taken literally imply that all you need to eat is these little berries and nothing else! However, unless you live in Brazil, the berries aren’t for sale. What you buy instead is a highly touted, processed dietary supplement – a tablet or instant drink powder.



And spirulina (a dried blue-green algae extract) containing “rich vegetable protein 60–63%, 3–4 times higher than fish or beef”. How is this relevant when you only take 5–10 g at a time and a typical daily protein requirement is 50 g? Or, “1 kg of Spirulina is equivalent to 1000 kg of assorted vegetables”. How silly. The obvious omission from this comparison is the valuable dietary fibre component of vegetables. I wouldn’t recommend giving up eating your vegetables on the basis of this. Spirulina is also described as “the most complete food source in the world”, again suggesting a bit more than the suggested dose of 10–20 tablets a day may be required for this claim to be tested. And how about that dose – most people struggle to take their prescribed life saving medications or a single daily multi-vitamin, never mind 20 tablets!

As for superfruits such as acai, goji and mangosteen, while they sound tantalisingly exotic, many are unfeasibly expensive. Often they are grown in far flung places and have to be imported dried, juiced or as extracts for supplements. For instance, dried acai powder retails for around (AUD) $40 per 100 g (3½ oz), a 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) packet of dried goji berries is around $30, goji juice is $40 per litre (about 1 quart), and dried mangosteen powder is $25 per pack (making 2 litres). You have to question the “natural goodness” of such processed derivatives, and what about the carbon emissions produced during transport?

In Australia we have a wealth of traditional indigenous superfoods that have maintained the health of our Aboriginal people for thousands of years, yet it is a growing trend to buy processed superfoods from halfway around the world. And don’t get me started on the spin-off products that have spun-off most of their health benefits like milk chocolate coated goji berries ($15 per 300 g pack).

Nutritional goodness does not have to cost the earth or be hard to get, as illustrated by the humble apple. According to a scientific review by Horticulture Australia, apples are one of the best and cheapest fruit sources of antioxidants around with one apple containing more antioxidants than half a punnet of blueberries or a cup of strawberries. Apples are grown within 45 minutes from my house and cost around $4 a kilogram – you do the maths. And they are also low GI. You’re likely to have similar examples in your area.

The bottom line? Lots of foods are super and work best in combination rather than on their own. It is whole diets containing a variety of different foods – not single foods or supplements – that help prevent disease and promote health and wellness. If you’re into exotic superfoods and supplements and you have money to spare then go ahead but take the claims with a good dose of skepticism. For the rest of us, health and vitality can be ours without the hefty price tag. For good health and a healthy environment buy a variety of fresh, local, seasonal and minimally packaged produce – they’re super too.

For Nicole's heart-healthy eating advice, tips and recipes go to www.eattobeatcholesterol.com.au

Talking Turkey with Prof Trim

What drives us to drink?
Thirst Like hunger, thirst is a biological drive that prevents us from dehydrating, and ensures that the 70% of the human body that is made up of fluid is maintained. Any decrease of body fluid by more than 5% can cause major physiological problems – and ultimately even death. As a result, humans can’t last for more than a couple of days under normal conditions without some fluid intake (where we can last for several months without food). Genuine thirst however, is satisfied by water. Yet many people go for years without drinking water. Obviously other drivers are involved in what drinks we choose.

Taste Again as with food, taste is a driver of consumption. As fat and sugar are nutrients designed to make us consume more (to get energy for survival), drinks that are loaded with either of these (e.g. dairy based, sugar sweetened), will usually be preferred over water. If taste is an issue modern technology can provide an answer – artificial sweeteners can add the taste, but no extra energy.



Mind alteration While there’s usually little genuine thirst involved in the craving for alcohol, kava and other mind altering drinks, these do provide some fluid to the body. And while these seem to have no real biological (although they may have a psychological and/or sociological) purpose, mind altering fluids have been consumed in some form by most cultures throughout the ages. The need may be, as some drug experts claim, to alter our normal form of consciousness from time to time. Fortunately, most mind altering drugs (e.g. alcohol), although high in energy, are disposed of quickly in the body. If the accompanying diet is controlled, they should not be a problem for weight (although they could cause other problems).

Conditioning This is the big one which is often overlooked when trying to manage body weight. By opportunistically consuming a high energy, tasty drink when genuinely thirsty, the odds of craving this when thirsty the next time are increased. Drinking full strength soft drink after a dehydrating game of sport for example, increases the chances of that drink being preferred over water the next time thirst strikes. In this case (as often occurs in children who are given soft drink or fruit juice when thirsty, the only real option is to go ‘cold turkey’ and stick to water or diet drinks when genuine thirst strikes.

Arousal Drinks like tea or coffee or those with added caffeine can aid arousal and are therefore often preferred when a ‘pick-me-up’ is required. In their ‘raw’ state, tea and coffee add no calories to water, hence these can be useful for managing body weight. The addition of caffeine to high-energy drinks on the other hand is not so likely to have the same benign effect on body weight.

Advertising/marketing Finally, beverage choice is often based on the images associated with that drink. How else could a dirty black fluid with some coca stimulant make you feel young, sexy and as if you’re having a great time when you drink it – even if you’re not thirsty and feeling miserable at the time? Consciousness of advertising messages and what is being done to persuade you to pay money for, and pick up that climate-changing can of soft drink, instead of grabbing a glass of water from the tap, is about the only thing that can help keep the weight off. Meanwhile … all this speculation is making the Professor thirsty. Now where’s that double scotch that makes men especially attractive with the soda, orange juice and a dash of genuine H2O?


Dr Garry Egger aka Prof Trim

For more information on weight loss for men, check out Professor Trim.

Your Success Stories

‘I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was 10 years old.’ – Kate
‘Having lived with type 1 diabetes since I was 10, and coeliac disease for the past few years, I have experienced first hand the difficulties of following a restricted diet ... which I suppose makes me rather different from most dietitians. In fact, being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes was the inspiration to study dietetics and then diabetes education, which has allowed me to have a career I love, helping others with diabetes. Having a real understanding of what they are going through is a huge benefit.

I don’t remember feeling sick at all. I mainly remember feeling thirsty all the time. I was on holidays with my Dad and my strongest recollections of the holiday were struggling to walk back up the hill from the beach and running to the toilet all the time. My Mom took one look at me the moment I arrived home and took me straight to the doctor, and within hours I had been whizzed off to hospital and told that I had type 1 diabetes. A lot of people comment it must have been difficult to be diagnosed so young, but I think it is much harder on your parents when you are diagnosed as a child, as they can understand the long term implications.

Like most kids growing up with diabetes, food and birthday parties, especially the cake, seem to be what we remember most! One year my Mom created a sugar-free pavlova with liquid sugarine – it turned out like polystyrene! But at least it was a cake.


Kate Marsh

These days I basically eat a lot of vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds and use quinoa and brown rice as my main grain foods. I had been vegetarian since my teenage years and a few years ago I adopted a vegan diet, for a number of reasons, but particularly health and environmental reasons. I really enjoy vegetarian foods and never really liked much meat so this isn’t difficult but combining it with a gluten-free diet that is also suited to my diabetes can be a challenge at times, particularly if eating out, which I don’t do a lot of. I don’t make a good dinner guest!

Unfortunately most gluten-free foods tend to be high GI which makes managing blood glucose levels more difficult but there are also plenty of lower GI options and building my diet around these has really helped. This is one of the reasons I was so keen to write Low GI Gluten-free Living – to help other people with coeliac disease understand the benefits of choosing low GI foods (whether or not they have diabetes) and to give them some practical ideas of how to do this.

When people hear that I have type 1 diabetes, the first comment is usually “so you have to give yourself injections – that must be hard”. But anyone with type 1 diabetes will tell you this is the easy bit! For us, insulin is the difference between life and death, but it doesn’t “cure” the disease and alone it doesn’t control our blood glucose levels. Living with type 1 diabetes means constantly juggling insulin, food, exercise and other factors such as stress and illness, all of which affect blood glucose levels. For me, understanding GI and how carbs really do affect blood glucose levels has been a great help in managing my diabetes.’

Kate Marsh is an Advanced Accredited Practicing Dietitian and Credentialled Diabetes Educator. She has just completed her PhD at the University of Sydney.

Send us your GI success story.

GI Symbol News with Alan Barclay

Alan Barclay

The real deal on sugar and sweeteners
Feel guilty every time you enjoy something sweet? Do you think having diabetes equals no sugar? You are not alone. However, many scientific studies over the past 20 years clearly show that a moderate amount of sugar (e.g. 30–50 grams or 6–10 teaspoons a day) in diets for people with diabetes does not adversely affect blood glucose levels nor lead to unwanted weight gain. Keep in mind, however, that this moderate amount includes all sources of refined sugar you consume – white, brown, raw, treacle, golden syrup, soft drinks, desserts, cookies, breakfast cereals or a teaspoon of sugar added to a cup of tea or coffee.

The sugar veto for people with diabetes has helped create a huge market for alternative sweeteners from aspartame (Equal/Nutrasweet) to stevia. In the first of a three-part series, Dr Alan Barclay checks out the pros and cons of the tabletop sweeteners you will find in your supermarket (including sweeteners primarily used to sweeten low-calorie commercial products). This month he looks at nutritive sweeteners.

Nutritive sweeteners are simply those that provide some calories (kilojoules) and, as the name suggests, nutrients. Highly refined sweeteners like white sugar (sucrose or fructose) provide calories and carbohydrate but little else. Less refined sweeteners like raw sugar, Logicane™, honey, golden syrup, pure (100%) maple syrup and agave also provide small amounts of calcium, potassium and magnesium. These sweeteners provide around 4 grams of carbohydrate and 14 calories (60 kJ) per level teaspoon. Remember, small amounts do add up – particularly when included in soft drinks (6–8 teaspoons of sucrose per cup/250 mL/9 fl oz) and cordials (5–6 teaspoons of sucrose per cup).



GI values range from a low of 19 for fructose to a high of 100 for glucose. While the GI of a typical blended honey is similar to that of white sugar, some of the Australian pure native floral honeys like yellow box, red gum and iron bark honey do have low GI values (35, 46 and 48, respectively), but they are not always available. The new sugar Logicane™ has a much lower GI than regular white sugar (50), and most of the other nutritive sweeteners with the exception of fructose.

Table sugar or sucrose (white, raw or brown) is the second sweetest after fructose, is the best value for money and is the easiest to use in cooking. And because it generally has a lower GI than the refined flour, it can actually lower the GI of recipes for baking, especially if you choose Logicane™. However, it is much more expensive.

The sugar alcohols, such as sorbitol, mannitol and maltitol, are generally not as sweet as table sugar, provide fewer calories and have less impact on blood glucose levels. To overcome their lack of sweetness, food manufacturers usually combine them with non-nutritive sweeteners to keep the calorie count down and minimise the effect on blood glucose levels. However, most have a laxative effect and may cause wind and diarrhoea if consumed in large quantities.

Used in sensible quantities, fructose certainly rivals table sugar as a good all-round sweetener. It stands out from the crowd, being sweeter than sugar, providing the same number of calories, but having only one-third the GI. So you can use less fructose to achieve the same level of sweetness, and as a result, consume fewer calories and experience a much smaller rise in your blood glucose levels. Its main drawback is cost.

There is some evidence that moderate (less than 50 g, or 10 teaspoons, per day) to high (100 g, or 20 teaspoons, or more, per day) consumption of fructose can raise triglyceride levels and increase the risk of weight gain, but most people do not normally eat anywhere near this amount – even those living in the United States.

Click for a complete guide to nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners along with the brands that carry the GI Symbol.

For more information email: alan@gisymbol.com



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

GI Values with Fiona Atkinson

To have your product GI tested, contact an accredited GI testing laboratory
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 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 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

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