1 November 2009

GI News—November 2009

[COLLAGE]

  • Mediterranean diet and diabetes management
  • Health headlines: don’t believe all you read
  • Don’t eat when you should be sleeping
  • Why the humble Greek salad is a winner
  • Why not the Australian Aboriginal diet for health and weight loss?
  • Discover low GI pearl couscous
Eat for Goals [a new book] shows young players and football fans how to cook and eat like champions,’ says Steven Gerrard, captain of Liverpool FC and England International. In this fun cookbook, 13 top international footballers (including Lukas Podolski, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Frank Lampard, Barry Ferguson and Kelly Smith) share tips on what they love to eat to play well and give recipes for their favourite dishes. With simple ingredients and easy recipes, the kids will soon be rustling up a quick rice cubana just like Thierry Henry, a power omelet (Miroslav Klose) or crunchy sea bream with herbs (Steven Gerrard). The Union of European Football Associations will donate €1 from the sale of each book to support World Heart Federation programs encouraging children to be active. You can order a copy online from Amazon or pick one up from your bookseller. What a tasty Christmas present.

Eat for goals

Good eating, good health and good reading.

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

Food for Thought

How to read articles about health and healthcare
By Dr Alicia White

‘If you’ve just read a health-related headline that’s caused you to spit out your morning coffee (“Coffee causes cancer” usually does the trick) it’s always best to follow the Blitz slogan: “Keep Calm and Carry On”. On reading further you’ll often find the headline has left out something important, like “Injecting five rats with really highly concentrated coffee solution caused some changes in cells that might lead to tumours eventually. (Study funded by The Association of Tea Marketing.)”

Keep calm and carry on

The most important rule to remember: “Don’t automatically believe the headline”. It is there to draw you into buying the paper and reading the story. Would you read an article called “Coffee pretty unlikely to cause cancer, but you never know”? Probably not.

Before spraying your newspaper with coffee in the future, you need to interrogate the article to see what it says about the research it is reporting on. Bazian (the company I work for) has interrogated hundreds of articles for Behind The Headlines on NHS Choices, and we’ve developed the following questions to help you figure out which articles you’re going to believe, and which you’re not. It’s not possible to cover all the questions that need to be asked about research studies in a short article, but we’ve covered some of the major ones.

  • Does the article support its claims with scientific research?
  • Is the article based on a conference abstract?
  • Was the research in humans?
  • How many people did the research study include?
  • Did the study have a control group?
  • Did the study actually assess what’s in the headline?
  • Who paid for and conducted the study?
For more, go to Behind the Headlines at http://www.nhs.uk/for news for daily breakdowns of healthcare stories in the media. Read the whole article HERE.

News Briefs

Mediterranean diet and managing diabetes
Consuming a Mediterranean style diet is more effective for diabetes management than a low-fat diet, reports a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. ‘Participants assigned to the Mediterranean-style diet lost more weight and experienced greater improvements in some glycemic control and coronary risk measures than did those assigned to the low-fat diet,’ wrote the researchers led by Katherine Esposito from the Second University of Naples. In addition to improvements in blood glucose management, the Mediterranean-style diet also delayed the need for anti-hyperglycemic (blood glucose lowering) drug therapy. ‘Perhaps most important, the findings reinforce the message that benefits of lifestyle interventions should not be overlooked despite the drug-intensive style of medicine fueled by the current medical literature,’

Esposito and her co-workers recruited 215 overweight people with newly diagnosed type-2 diabetes and randomly assigned them to consume the Mediterranean-style diet or a low-fat diet. After four years, only 44% of people in the Mediterranean-style diet group required anti-hyperglycemic drug treatment, compared to 70% in the low-fat diet group.

What did they eat? The Mediterranean diet was rich in vegetables and whole grains and low in red meat, which was replaced with poultry and fish. The low-fat diet was based on American Heart Association guidelines; it too was rich in whole grains and restricted additional fats, sweets, and high-fat snacks. The researchers note two primary limitations of their study: 1) it was not double-blind, and 2) dietary intakes were self-reported.

Mediterranean foods

GI Group: We know that you are going to be asking exactly the same questions we did: what exactly did the people on the Mediterranean diet eat? We have tried to contact the authors, but at time of publication, had not had a reply. So we asked Johanna Burani who spends a great deal of time in Italy for some comments. ‘I think they are recommending LOTS of vegetables (all kinds) and LOTS of beans (pinto, chickpeas, kidney, garbanzo) and fruit. Under normal conditions, people in Italy wouldn't willingly choose wholewheat pasta or brown rice but maybe the authors got them to eat these whole grains for the study. I really think the thrust would be towards vegetables and beans -– at least for everyone out here in the trenches.’

Meal timing and weight gain
A new study published in Obesity (in mice) suggests that it’s not just how much you eat, but when you eat it, that influences weight gain. ‘How or why a person gains weight is very complicated, but it clearly is not just calories in and calories out,’ said Prof Fred Turek, director of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Biology at Northwestern University. ‘We think some factors are under circadian control. Better timing of meals … could be a critical element in slowing the ever-increasing incidence of obesity.’

To test whether ‘when you eat’ can affect body weight, the researchers studied two groups of mice and found simply modifying their feeding time alone greatly affected their body weight. Over the six-week study period, the group of mice that ate as much as they liked of a high-fat diet during their normal sleeping hours (our day time) gained significantly more weight than the mice eating the same type and amount of food during their naturally wakeful hours (our night time) although both groups of mice had actually consumed about the same amount of calories and performed the same amount of exercise over the six weeks.

Of course human studies are needed to determine if timing of food intake influences our body weight, but this study suggests that late-night eating may be worse, in terms of weight gain, than eating during normal waking hours says Fred Turek.

GI Group: This study, while only in mice, may also have implications for shift workers.

Age difference and low GI diets
A study published in Diabetologia reports that the benefits of a low GI diet appear to be more pronounced in young adult mice (16 weeks) than in older mice (44 weeks). The dietary intervention involved ‘wild type’ mice and (sorry to be technical here) specially bred mice whose glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor had been knocked out. The study calls them ‘Gipr genotype mice’.

Compared with the young mice on a low GI diet, the young mice on a high GI diet gained a significant amount of weight along with more body fat and reduced insulin sensitivity. With the older mice, the story is more complicated. Though body fat also slightly increased in high GI vs low GI older ‘wild type’ mice, there were no significant changes in their body weight and estimated insulin sensitivity. However, the older Gipr genotype mice on a high GI diet showed significantly lower cumulative net energy intake, increased locomotor activity and improved markers of insulin sensitivity suggesting, say the authors, that inactivation of GIP signalling in aged animals on a high-GI diet could be beneficial.

GI Symbol

New GI Symbol
The GI Symbol has been given a facelift. When you choose a food that carries this Symbol, you can be sure that the GI value stated near the nutrition information panel is accurate and the product meets the Symbol Program’s strict nutrient criteria. For more information email: alan@gisymbol.com or stephanie@gisymbol.com


Foodwatch with Catherine Saxelby

In search of the ultimate Greek salad ... and purslane

Catherine

On holiday in the sunny Greek islands in peak season, the Greek salad turned out to be my best option for getting my daily fix of greens and providing the perfect counterfoil to our meals of barbecued octopus, lamb souvlaki or grilled fish. It was invariably reasonably priced and I ended up chowing down on one each day, sometimes two, so I had ample opportunities to critically analyse them.

The salad typically comprised the usual base of tomato pieces but these were red, ripe and full-flavoured. Mixed in were rounds of cucumber plus capsicum, purple onion, black or green olives in oil, topped with a slab of Greek fetta and a sprinkle of dried oregano. It was served at room temperature with little bottles of Greek olive oil and vinegar to dress it. The fetta was a real surprise. Not salty/briny fetta as we find in Australia but softer lightly salted fetta that had a creamy texture somewhere between firm tofu and thick Greek yoghurt.

Greek salad

Each island offered its own variation on the basic ingredients. On Santorini, large home-grown capers were added, sometimes with pickled caper bush leaves, which added a pleasant tang, sometimes fresh oregano leaves. On Rodos, we dined on one with cherry tomatoes and finely-sliced fennel which was delicious. On Crete, baby rocket was mixed in. Another had a huge garnish of purslane (pigweed) sitting on top.

Nutritionally the humble Greek salad is a winner and a god-send for tourists. It’s an easy light meal in itself with bread or an accompaniment to barbecued fish or meat. It gives you at least three serves of vegetables, adds the super power of tomatoes with their lycopene and vitamin C, is high in fibre and antioxidants. If you add olive oil, this will boost the absorption of the fat-soluble antioxidants (I always did – it made a nice ‘sauce’ for the crusty bread to soak up).

Its only drawback is of course the higher than usual salt level thanks to the olives and fetta. Based on Australian figures, I estimate this to be around 900 mg from 5 black olives and 80 g of fetta but of course it will depend on the make (the fetta I sampled in Greece tasted decidedly mild in salt). This sodium figure is on par with a 50 g snack pack of pretzels so it’s up there with other salted foods. Of course you can reduce this at home by using fewer olives (just slice into slivers so you get a hint of olive without the full salt hit) and buying a salt-reduced fetta.

I visited Crete in search of the traditional Med Diet and one of its chief ingredients, purslane, a native wild green that grows wild on Crete and is a rich source of ALA, one of the simpler omega-3 fatty acids. Researchers have hypothesised that purslane is one of the reasons why the Med Diet is so beneficial to health. But I was disappointed. Despite my queries around Heraklion and Rethymo, I never managed to find any in markets or cafes. Waiters looked blankly at me. All was not wasted as it turned up in Turkey (another Med Diet country with more olive trees than I’ve ever seen growing on every spare metre of land). There it was in a simple salad with a light creamy dressing at a roadside taverna. Served with three other vegetable dishes as a mixed entree before our main course. It had a delicious flavour, crunchy and a tangle of green tuberous stems and bright green leaves. I enjoyed every mouthful.

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, 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. For more information, check out Johanna's website. The photographs are by Sergio Burani. His food, travel and wine photography website is HERE.

[JOHANNA]

Matteo’s chickpea soup
My son, Matteo, who lives in Friuli, was visiting us recently. He loves to cook, so I asked him to suggest a recipe off the top of his head that I could develop for GI News. Being a creative cook, Matteo just thinks in terms of good, fresh ingredients and then invents something scrumptious. So he gave me a list of eight ingredients that he uses to make a chickpea soup. I worked out the quantities and cooking times and added a few personal touches of my own. The recipe below is our combined effort. I prepared two versions of the soup, one with dry and the other with canned chickpeas. Italians never use canned beans. But for those unaccustomed to cooking with some advanced preparation (albeit minimal), I wanted to present a quicker version. Surprisingly, the tastes were quite similar to each other, with the dried chickpea version tasting a bit more earthy.
Servings: 7 (approx. 1 cup each)

225 g (8 oz/1 1/3 cups) dried chickpeas or 1½ x 600 g (19 oz) cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 medium carrots, cut into ½ cm (¼-inch) horizontal slices
1 small onion (yellow or red), sliced
1–2 cloves garlic, minced
4 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, leaves only
1 heaping tablespoon fresh rosemary, needles only
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup crushed canned tomatoes, San Marzano type
6 cups vegetable broth (homemade if possible) for the dried chickpeas; 3 cups for the canned chickpeas
1 tablespoon kosher salt or sea salt (or to taste)
30 g (1 oz) medium pasta shells

Chickpea soup

  • If using the dried chickpeas, rinse and place them in a bowl with abundant water. Cover the bowl and set aside overnight.
  • Place the next five ingredients (carrots through rosemary) in a food processor. Pulse 25 times (15 seconds) or until all ingredients are coarsely chopped. Set aside.
  • In a large pot, heat the oil and add the chopped ingredients. Saute over moderate heat for 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add in the chickpeas (soaked and drained, or canned), tomatoes, broth and salt, mix well. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat, cover and cook as follows: the dried chickpeas for 1 hour; the canned chickpeas for 30 minutes.
  • Remove from heat. In small batches, blend the soup until smooth (30–40 seconds). Return to the pot and keep warm.
  • Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. When cooked, drain and add to the soup. Serve hot with freshly grated cheese (optional).

Per serving
Energy: 560 kJ/ 140 cals; Protein 6 g; Fat 3 g (includes 0 g saturated fat and 0 mg cholesterol); Carbs23 g; Fibre 5 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. People often say to me, ‘I’d love to eat more fresh fish or seafood, but it’s too expensive.’ To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Sydney Seafood School this November, Roberta Muir the School’s Manager, suggested this relatively inexpensive seafood dish. For more money-saving recipes, visit Diane’s website.

Barbecued chilli octopus with red capsicum & tzatziki
‘You can use calamari, cuttlefish or squids (cut into strips), large green prawns/shrimp (omit the boiling water) for this dish if you prefer,’ says Roberta. Although the recipe uses 1/2 cup of olive oil for the marinade, this isn't actually cooked with the octopus. In our recipe analysis we have assumed a couple of tablespoons of oil sticks during cooking. We haven't priced this one as the cost of seafood can vary from place to place and week to week.
Serves 4

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) baby octopus, cleaned and quartered
½ cup extra virgin olive oil, for marinating
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
3 small red chillies, seeded and finely chopped
1½ teaspoons chopped oregano leaves
2 red capsicums, seeded and cut into chunks

Tzatziki
1 small Lebanese cucumber
1 clove garlic, crushed
200 g (7 oz) tub Greek-style plain yoghurt (reduced fat)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

BBQ chilli octopus

  • Pour boiling water over octopus, leave to stand for 1–2 minutes then drain.
  • Combine the olive oil, garlic, chilli, oregano, and capsicum in a bowl. Add octopus, cover and marinate for at least 30 minutes.
  • Make the tzatziki: halve the cucumber, discard the seeds and grate coarsely. Place in a clean tea towel and squeeze to remove any excess moisture. Combine with garlic, yoghurt, salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
  • Heat a barbecue or char-grill plate. Arrange the capsicum on the grill, skin-side down. Cook until the skin starts to blister, turn, cook for another minute or 2 until it colours, then remove and set aside.
  • Remove the octopus from the marinade and cook on the grill for 2–5 minutes, turning occasionally, until the skin is brightly coloured. Arrange capsicum on a serving platter, pile the octopus on top and serve with tzatziki on the side.

Per serving
Energy: 1050 kJ/ 250 cals; Protein 26 g; Fat 12 g (includes 2.5 g saturated fat and 249 mg cholesterol); Carbs 9 g; Fibre 2 g.

Recipe supplied by FISHline, Sydney Fish Market’s free consumer advisory service. Visit the FISHline pages at http://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/ for more great seafood recipes, advice on seafood purchasing, storage and cooking, species information and answers to frequently asked seafood questions.

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Myth: The Mediterranean diet is healthy because of the olive oil.

[NICOLE]
Nicole Senior

Fact: The Mediterranean diet is healthy because it contains of variety of protective foods.
Everybody has heard good things about the Mediterranean diet. Typically we hear it’s good for the heart, and this is true as evidenced by the lower rates of heart disease experienced in countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. However most people when asked what’s healthy about it almost always say olive oil. This is an oversimplification because the traditional Mediterranean diet – predominantly plant food based – contains a bounty of foods with known protective effects: vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, nuts, herbs and spices, fish and small servings of alcohol and red meat. The mechanism of protection is still not fully understood, and there are likely to be many different protective effects offered by different foods. And there are non-diet factors. For many traditional communities around the Mediterranean, their lives are simpler, more active and religion is central to everyday life. One could postulate that religion is crucial to the health benefits of Mediterranean diet!

Why the question ‘what’s healthy about the Mediterranean diet?’ is important, is because foods of the Mediterranean are not universally available or liked. I’ve met people who just don’t like the taste of olive oil. While olive oil is a healthy choice, it may actually have a neutral effect on heart health by displacing bad fats rather than actively protecting by itself. Olive oil is primarily monounsaturated and the Heart Foundation Australia’s evidence-based position on monounsaturated fats is “there is little evidence that mono-unsaturated fat has an independent effect on coronary endpoints”. In simple terms, this means don’t rely on mono-unsaturated fats alone to prevent a heart attack. Another component of olive oil often mentioned is the antioxidants (polyphenolic compounds), particularly high in extra-virgin olive oil. These are likely to be beneficial, however not unique to olive oil. Thousands of phytochemicals exist across all plant foods.

An even better result may be achieved with a modified Mediterranean diet using sunflower or canola oil. This is because polyunsaturated fats have greater cholesterol lowering effects, and because of the known benefits of omega-6 and omega-3 fats. This idea of a Mediterranean-style diet using different oil – namely canola oil and margarine – yielded spectacular results in the famous Lyon Heart Study. This seminal study showed an impressive 76% reduction in risk of death or major coronary events (e.g. heart attack, stroke etc) in patients who had previously had a heart attack (and thus at high risk) after following a modified Mediterranean diet for 27 months. While a Mediterranean diet with olive oil attracts passionate supporters, it’s not the only cardio-protective diet.

If you want to eat a healthy diet, then try to take all the leaves out of the Mediterranean diet book rather than just the page on olive oil or you’re bound to come up short on benefits. A heart-healthy diet is a whole rather than one or two parts, and can be adapted to suit individual and cultural preferences.

If you’d like to learn more about heart-friendly foods and how you can combine them in ways to suit you, check out Nicole’s books at http://www.eattobeatcholesterol.com.au/

[SUN]


Talking Turkey with Prof Trim

Why not the Australian Aboriginal diet for health and weight loss?
The Mediterranean diet; a mixture of fruit, nuts, vegetables, seafood, pasta and olive oil has been sold so much as the healthy diet by nutritionists and the medical profession in recent years, that many people think they have to move to Crete or Italy to survive. But as usual, the Professor is here to throw a spanner into the works.

Not only does the real Mediterranean diet hardly still exist in the Mediterranean in its real form, but it’s probably no more healthy than the traditional Aboriginal diet, the Nordic diet, the Hunza diet, the Okinawa diet – or any of a number of other forms of ‘native’ diet eaten traditionally by inhabitants of a particular region before the advent of industrialisation of foods, domestication of animals and proliferation of ‘fast’ foods.

People (including scientists) get carried away with specific diets and components of diets, which they consider to be the elixir for good health, based on the fact that they have been eaten for thousands of years. But humans have existed in all parts of the world for thousands of years and have eaten a wide variety of localized foods. Hence, it’s the common ingredients of such ‘native’ foods that are likely to have the positive benefits, rather than the particular foods themselves. For example, it’s known that native Australian fruits and vegetables are high in anti-oxidants, and the native fish and animal meats are lean and extremely low fat (i.e. healthy).

Recently, your own humble Professor has been involved in a study comparing inflammation markers in the bloodstream of a number of people after a meal of kangaroo (a ‘native’ food), compared to a meal of wagyu beef (a domesticated animal food). Wagyu was only bred into existence about two decades ago. It is reasonably high in fat (although not as bad as some other meat breeds on the market). Kangaroo, on the other hand, has been around for eons, and is very low in fat (in fact hardly any). In the Australian study (yet to be published), kangaroo didn’t increase inflammation, whereas wagyu did.

So why bother with the Mediterranean diet, when here in Australia we have possibly one of the world’s healthiest diets on our doorstep. Although it’s not likely to exist, except in trendy middle class restaurants these days, here is a sample of what you might have expected in the traditional Australian Aboriginal diet:

Land foodWater foodSky food
Kangaroo (now marketed as ‘Kroo’), wallaby, emu, goanna, snakes and grubsFish, crayfish/yabbies, lobster, prawns/shrimp, crabs, octopus, squidDuck, goose, native pigeon, mutton bird, swamp fowl, pheasant
Natives berries and fruits, native vegetables, yams and seedsWater plantsBats

Quandong roo

Photo: Kangaroo fillet with quandong confit courtesy Dining Downunder Promotions chefs Benjamin Christie and Vic Cherikoff

For more information on weight loss for men, check out Professor Trim's website HERE.

Want to find out more about Australia’s wild foods?
Check out a copy of Vic Cherikoff’s Super Foods for Super Health (with George Kowalski) and read all about Kakadu plum (the world’s highest fruit source of vitamin C), wild rosella, Illawarra plum, mountain pepper, quandong and Australian native herb extracts. If you are inspired to try these wild foods, you won’t find them in your fruit shop – they aren’t available in commercial quantities. ‘Kakadu Juice which is packed with anti-oxidants is the only way we can easily add these wild foods to our diet,’ says Vic.

Your Success Stories

‘Who would have thought beans and legumes could be a base foodstuff in so many dishes ... even desserts!’ – Libby
‘My husband has type 2 diabetes and in the honeymoon period of the six months after our wedding, the two of us gained so much weight because we were enjoying lots of meals out and were not monitoring our diets closely. The weight gain led his HbA1c to creep up to 8.2. It was looking like insulin might be on the cards, so he made the decision it was crunch time for the diet. We already knew about GI eating plans and had several books, but we had not applied it consistently till then. That was back in May. Within two months I had lost 8 kg (17 pounds), he had lost 6 kg (13 pounds), his cholesterol dropped back into the healthy range and the HbA1c is back down to 7.1. It became a really consistent effort when we began to write about it on a website we are building together: http://www.lowgicooking.com/

On this website, I’m posting all the recipes I cook, so there is about one a day (except when I repeat meals). My husband has taken all the photos (not to mention done the web development), and I plan and cook all the meals. Both of us agree that the best part is we don’t really feel like we are dieting, because we are eating until we are well and truly full, but simply choosing good carbs, good fats, LOTS of fruit, vegetables, nuts and whole grains and only eating out very rarely. All of this is thanks to the great, long-term research work by the Uni of Sydney which we really appreciate and believe will add years to our lives. Who would have thought beans and legumes could be a base foodstuff in so many dishes ... even desserts! The next step we’re planning is to buy our own home mini flourmill so we can make our own delicious wholegrain flours.’

Libby and family in the kitchen
Libby and family in the kitchen

Send us your GI success story.

GI Symbol News with Alan Barclay

[ALAN]
Alan Barclay

Low GI pearl couscous
Blu Gourmet Pearl Couscous (GI 52) now carries the GI Symbol. Unlike traditional couscous, pearl couscous which takes its name from its pearl-like shape and size is often described as a ‘toasted pasta specialty’. Like regular pasta, it is made from hard (durum) wheat and water. But instead of being dried, it is toasted in an open flame oven. It has a rich, nutty flavour and a chewy texture, with a smooth, almost buttery mouth feel. It makes a perfect side dish to meat, poultry, or fish instead of potatoes, rice, or traditional pastas or couscous. It cooks in around 10 minutes by the absorption method – just like rice – and you can also use it in a variety of dishes – just like rice and other pastas.

Where does it come from? Blu Gourmet Pearl Couscous is produced by Osem in Israel. In the US and Canada you will find it marketed as Osem Israeli Couscous or Osem Toasted Pasta and you can even buy it from Amazon. Here in Australia, It is on the shelves in Coles supermarkets and many independent grocers and delis. For those of you who need to count your carbs, ½ cup cooked pearl couscous has around 20 g carbs and a GL of 10.

Product ambassador, chef Gabriel Gate, has developed a number of recipes using pearl couscous. Here’s the one we tried: Gourmet Pearl Couscous Salad with Vegetables and Cashew Nuts and a Sesame Dressing. You’ll find it will serve around 10 people at a barbecue and is a great way to use up leftover vegetables. Serves 6.



250 g (9 oz) pearl couscous,
juice of 1 lemon,
2 tablespoons salt-reduced soy sauce,
½ teaspoon sesame oil,
½ a red chilli, finely sliced,
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil,
about 80 g (3 oz) roasted unsalted cashew nuts,
½ cup coriander leaves,
1 cup cooked corn kernels (canned is fine),
200 g (7 oz) cooked green beans, cut into small pieces,
300 g (10 oz) cooked butternut pumpkin cubes

  • Bring a large volume of salted water to the boil. Stir in the couscous and cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Drain the couscous, place in cold water to cool, then drain again.
  • In a bowl mix together the lemon juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, red chilli, olive oil, cashew nuts and coriander leaves. Add the cold drained couscous and toss gently. Add the vegetables and toss together very gently before serving.
Per serving
Energy: 1640 kJ/ 390 cals; Protein 11 g; Fat 17 g (includes 2.5 g saturated fat and 0 mg cholesterol); Carbs 46 g; Fibre 4 g.

For more recipes, check out the Blu Gourmet Pearl Couscous website http://www.blu.net.au/

New GI Symbol

For more information about the GI Symbol Program

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

GI Update

GI Q&A with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Jennie

‘I have seen numerous studies stating that chewing food completely (20–30 times) is beneficial in suppressing appetite. However, if we chew an apple before swallowing, is the GI value that of an apple or of apple juice?’ – Norm
Hi Norm, the GI of a food (or beverage) is based on scientific testing of real foods in real people in the state in which they are normally consumed – so when testing, an apple is crunched and chewed in the normal way and the subsequent GI value is for a chewed and digested apple – skin and all. If you chewed the apple over and over again in the mouth until it’s a very soft mash, then chances are the glucose and insulin response will be higher. We know what happens if we chew bread and pasta for longer before swallowing. This produces a higher glucose response because saliva contains the enzyme amylase that begins the process of starch digestion. In fact, these studies showed that a minute or two of chewing caused over half the starch in bread to be digested before it was swallowed. The pasta, however, was more resistant to digestion in the mouth, partly because of its hard texture.

Here’s how scientists measure a food’s GI value (you’ll find lots more information on our website: http://www.glycemicindex.com/). ‘To determine a food’s GI value, measured portions of the food containing 10–50 grams of carbohydrate are fed to 10 healthy people after an overnight fast. Finger-prick blood samples are taken at 15–30 minute intervals over the next two hours. These blood samples are used to construct a blood sugar response curve for the two hour period. The area under the curve (AUC) is calculated to reflect the total rise in blood glucose levels after eating the test food. The GI rating (%) is calculated by dividing the AUC for the test food by the AUC for the reference food (same amount of glucose) and multiplying by 100. The use of a standard food is essential for reducing the confounding influence of differences in the physical characteristics of the subjects. The average of the GI ratings from all ten subjects is published as the GI of that food.’

GI graph

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

[FIONA]

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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1 October 2009

GI News—October 2009

[COLLAGE]

  • Does organic food have more nutrients?
  • Looking for healthy ways to eat well and lose weight – start a cookbook club
  • High meat diets and diabetes risk
  • Catherine Saxelby on why tomatoes are tops
  • Two new recipes from the GI News kitchen
  • Michael Pollan on why NOT cooking may be bad for our health
  • Check out the new GI Symbol
‘People are always looking for healthy ways to eat and lose weight and a cookbook club is a great way to do both,’ suggests GI News subscriber, Darlene from Arizona. ‘It has been fun for us to come together every week to try new things and it has opened up new ways of combining good foods with recipes that are easy to make and affordable. Here’s how we started our Cookbook Club. I purchased a copy of Glycemic Index Cooking Made Easy a few months ago to lose weight and try new foods – especially vegetables that I am a stranger to. I brought the cookbook to the office and it received so much interest that several of us joined together to take turns preparing a recipe to share. We discuss the recipe and make notes in the cookbook. There are approximately ten of us now and we meet every Wednesday.

At our recent Cookbook Club lunch I tried a dish that contained tuna. I have not had tuna in 30 years and it was very good recipe. Comments from our club regarding the recipes have been – “inexpensive”, “easy”, “great for potluck” and “I would never have thought to mix this or that into a salad but it works very well and I will definitely make it again.” You asked about our favorites so far? All the recipes we have tried so far are favorites! We visit your website and obtain helpful information from your newsletters and share it with the group.’

The cookbook club

Good eating, good health and good reading.

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

Food for Thought

Off the couch and into the kitchen

In a typically thought provoking piece in the New York Times magazine, ‘Out of the Kitchen, onto the Couch’, Michael Pollan writes: ‘...here’s what I don’t get: How is it that we are so eager to watch other people browning beef cubes on screen but so much less eager to brown them ourselves? For the rise of Julia Child as a figure of cultural consequence – along with Alice Waters and Mario Batali and Martha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse and whoever is crowned the next Food Network star – has, paradoxically, coincided with the rise of fast food, home-meal replacements and the decline and fall of everyday home cooking …

TV show about cooking playing in an empty kitchen

Today the average American spends a mere 27 minutes a day on food preparation (another four minutes cleaning up); that’s less than half the time that we spent cooking and cleaning up when Julia arrived on our television screens. It’s also less than half the time it takes to watch a single episode of “Top Chef” or “Chopped” or “The Next Food Network Star.” What this suggests is that a great many Americans are spending considerably more time watching images of cooking on television than they are cooking themselves – an increasingly archaic activity they will tell you they no longer have the time for.

Cooking’s fate may be to join some of our other weekend exercises in recreational atavism: camping and gardening and hunting and riding on horseback. Something in us apparently likes to be reminded of our distant origins every now and then and to celebrate whatever rough skills for contending with the natural world might survive in us, beneath the thin crust of 21st-century civilization.

But to relegate the activity of cooking to a form of play, something that happens just on weekends or mostly on television, seems much more consequential. The fact is that not cooking may well be deleterious to our health, and there is reason to believe that the outsourcing of food preparation to corporations and 16-year-olds has already taken a toll on our physical and psychological well-being.’ Read the whole article HERE.

Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan

News Briefs

Does organic food have more nutrients? Glenn Cardwell comments on a UK study.

A report published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition came to the conclusion that organically grown produce and livestock had a similar nutrient offering to conventionally grown food. The reviewers trawled all the research for the past 50 years and found only 55 good quality research studies comparing organic and conventionally grown food, many conducted this century. The comparison did not include pesticide residue or the environmental impact.



In many cases, it won't matter how you dress up organic produce because most people won't be prepared to pay the premium price. The other critical factor is that less than one in ten adults eat enough fruit and vegetables to be good for them. Most adults need to double their vegetable intake to get the benefits they provide, before they start to wonder whether they should go organic or not.

Fresh produce in Australia is tested for pesticide residues. Most farmers will ensure that they meet the withholding times to ensure they are below the Maximum Residue Limits for pesticides, which are set by international scientific agreement. A lot of fresh produce has no detectable pesticide or herbicide residue at the point of sale. All the same, this will not appease many people who prefer no pesticides to be used in the first place (and if they weren't used then fruit and vegetables will be a lot more expensive than they are now).

If you can afford it, and you eat plenty of organic produce, then keep buying it. Many of you already are, as the organic market is rapidly growing. It sends a message that you prefer food that is a little more gentle on the environment. For those of us with plenty of mouths to feed and a modest budget, then feel comfortable eating good quality conventionally grown food, as the nutrient levels are very similar to organic produce. Remember that how you look after fresh produce after it has been bought will have the greatest impact on its nutrient content. Eat fresh food as soon as you can after purchase to get the most nutrients from your meal.

Glenn Cardwell
Glenn Cardwell

For good health we need carbohydrates

‘Carbohydrates have been and will continue to be an essential part of any human dietary requirement for hundreds of years, unless a fundamental mutation occurs,’ says Christian Nordqvist in
Medical News Today.

‘The obesity explosion in most industrialized countries, and many developing countries, is a result of several contributory factors. One could easily argue for or against higher or lower carbohydrate intake, and give compelling examples, and convince most people either way. However, some factors have been present throughout the obesity explosion and should not be ignored: Less physical activity, fewer hours sleep each night, higher consumption of junk food, higher consumption of food additives, coloring, taste enhancers, artificial emulsifiers, etc, more abstract mental stress due to work, mortgages, and other modern lifestyle factors.

In rapidly developing countries, such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico, obesity is rising as people’s standards of living are changing. However, for their leaner nationals of a few decades ago carbohydrates made up a much higher proportion of their diets. Those leaner people also consumed much less junk food, moved around more, tended to consume more natural foods, and slept more hours each night. Saying that a country’s body weight problem is due to too much or too little of just one food component is too simplistic – it is a bit like saying that traffic problems in our cities are caused by badly synchronized traffic lights and nothing else.

It is true that many carbohydrates present in processed foods and drinks we consume tend to spike glucose and subsequently insulin production, and leave you hungry sooner than natural foods would. The Mediterranean diet of the people in Greece or the island of Corfu, with an abundance of carbohydrates from low GI sources (think pasta, or legumes) plus a normal amount of animal/fish protein, have a much lower impact on insulin requirements and subsequent health problems, compared to any other widespread western diet. Dramatically fluctuating insulin and blood glucose levels can have a long term effect on your eventual risk of developing obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions. However, for good health we do require carbohydrates. Carbohydrates that come from natural unprocessed foods, such as fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and some cereals also contain essential vitamins, minerals, fiber and key phytonutrients.’

High meat diets may increase the risk of diabetes
Eating more than 120 g (4 oz) a day of red meat, or more than 50 g (1½ oz) a day of processed meat like hamburgers, frankfurter sausages and bacon, may lead to a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes according to a study published in
Diabetologia that summarised data from 12 studies from around the globe.

Red meat intake was investigated in 10 of the 12 studies and included a total of 12,226 cases of type 2 diabetes from a total of 433,070 participants. There was a 21% increase in the risk of type 2 diabetes for those with the highest compared to the lowest red meat intake. The results of this study are consistent with previous findings of a 35–50% lower risk of type 2 diabetes among vegetarians compared with omnivores.

There are various possible explanations for these findings including the high total and saturated fat content of many red and processed meats which may increase the risk of being overweight or obese; the fact that they are rich in haem-iron which may interfere with glucose metabolism; and the presence of nitrites and nitrates in processed meats which can be converted to nitrosamines which in turn may have toxic effects on the insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells.

‘The key message from this study,’ says Dr Alan Barclay, ‘is that eating large quantities of red meat, and processed meat, is not necessarily good for your health. Diabetes is a serious condition for the individual and society. Its rapidly increasing global prevalence is a significant cause for concern. It’s currently estimated that around 246 million people worldwide have type 2 diabetes and this figure is expected to rise to 380 million by 2025. The evidence is piling up that high meat diets are not the solution for healthy people or a healthy planet. A moderate consumption of red meat (65–100 g/2–3½ oz of cooked meat), fish (80–120 g/2½–4 oz, cooked), or vegetarian alternatives such as beans, lentils or chickpeas (½ a cup, cooked) each day, is sufficient for most of us and we should limit eating processed meats to just once a week.’

Plate Smash!
‘I believe most people would like to eat the right amount, if only they knew what that was. My new Plate Smash Game makes you stop and think about how many calories you are putting on your plate for one meal,’ says dietitan Amanda Clark. ‘Go over the right amount and your plate will smash!’

Foodwatch with Catherine Saxelby

Tomatoes are tops in any healthy diet

Catherine

Cherry, egg, vine-ripened, ox-heart or teardrop; raw, grilled, oven-roasted or sun-dried; canned, bottled or in paste form – whichever way you eat them, tomatoes are a versatile ingredient of any healthy diet and a top super food. In terms of consumption, they are our second favourite vegetable after potatoes. Much of our intake is from canned whole tomatoes, tomato pasta sauces, tomato paste, tomato juice (GI 38), canned tomato soup (GI 38) and sun dried/semi dried tomatoes. And of course there’s that barbecue icon, tomato sauce or ketchup.

Tomatoes

As with most veggies, you can tuck into them without thinking about their GI. They are so low in carbohydrate that they have no measurable effect on your blood glucose levels, but they do provide you with some fibre, vitamins, minerals and lots of lycopene, all for a mere 73 kilojoules (17 calories) in a medium-size tomato.

What’s lycopene? It’s a powerful antioxidant which has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer of the prostate and possibly cancer of the colon, bladder and lungs. Several studies have found that men who have the highest intakes of lycopene from tomato-based foods had a much lower risk of prostate cancer. And it appears to protect white blood cells, our body's first line of defence against infection. Interestingly processed tomato products – sauces, soups and juices – provide the most lycopene. Cooking and processing softens the tough cell walls of the tomato and increases the availability of the lycopene.

Tomatoes are sometimes avoided by arthritis sufferers, along with other members of the nightshade family like capsicum and eggplant. Reasons given are that they are too ‘acid’ or cause a flare-up of swollen joints or stiffness. But it could really be due to their high natural treasure chest. Along with their flavour, tomatoes contain high levels of salicylates, amines and glutamates, three natural compounds that are often the villains in migraines, digestive upsets and other allergic-type reactions collectively called food sensitivity. As with other culprit foods, it seems if a food consistently causes problems for someone, then it’s best to avoid it (and it’s estimated that around 30% of arthritis sufferers have some sort of food intolerance). At this stage, however, there's not enough evidence to ban tomatoes for everyone with arthritis.

Tips to add more tomatoes to your diet:



  • Add sliced tomato to your sandwiches or melts – it's a perfect partner to cheese or ham (add a little Dijon mustard as well).

  • Oven-roast Roma tomatoes and stir though a barley risotto with basil, mushrooms and little parmesan. Or just serve them on toast!

  • Throw 1 cup of cherry or grape baby tomatoes through a salad. Or use red ripe ones as the basis of that ever-popular Greek salad with steak or chicken.
Why not make your own Salsa di Pomodoro? This recipe is from Mary Taylor Simeti’s Sicilian Food – a delightful book on the food, traditions and recipes of Sicily that’s full of authentic recipes from the author's family and friends on the island.

Ingredients: 1¾ kg (4 lb) fresh very ripe tomatoes, 1 medium onion, 4 sprigs parsley, ¼ cup olive oil, salt, sugar (optional)

Method: Wash the tomatoes and remove the stems, which if cooked would make the sauce bitter. Place the tomatoes in a saucepan with just enough water to barely cover the bottom of the pan, cover, and bring to the boil over a medium low flame. Simmer for 5 minutes, then drain well and cool slightly before passing through a food mill. Discard skin and seeds. Mince the onion and the parsley, and sauté in the oil. When the onion begins to turn golden, add the tomato puree. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, season to taste with a little salt, and if the sauce seems to acid, add a pinch of sugar. Makes approximately 3½ cups sauce.

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, 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. For more information, check out Johanna's website. The photographs are by Sergio Burani. His food, travel and wine photography website is HERE.

Frittata with herbs

Frittata with fresh herbs
A frittata is an open-faced omelet. Italian cooks usually welcome in springtime with a recipe like this one because the herbs in their gardens are lush enough to start snipping at their sprigs and leaves. When I’m not in my Italian home, I’m a city girl, with nothing more than a few potted herbs and tomato plants on my deck. In early fall, before the cold sets in, I start cooking with whatever herbs I still have growing. The beauty of this recipe is that you can choose whatever herbs you may have at arm’s length and your frittata will be as sumptuous as this one. I try to include at least three different herbs. When I make this, we have our ‘primo piatto’ first, which is pasta so I just serve it with a hearty salad. If you are making a meal of the frittata, serve it with some low GI bread too if you wish.


Frittata with herbs

Serves 2

3 eggs
½ cup egg substitute or 2 extra egg whites
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh chives
2 heaping tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, stems removed
2 heaping tablespoons minced fresh, flat leaf parsley, minced
¼ cup fresh basil leaves, ripped into tiny pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
vegetable oil spray
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil


  • Place the eggs, egg substitute or extra egg white, the herbs and the salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl. Whisk until all the ingredients are blended.

  • Cover the bottom of a 10-inch (25 cm) frying pan with vegetable spray. Heat over a medium flame. Add the olive oil and, when it is warmed, add the egg-herb mixture.

  • Cook the frittata for 5–6 minutes, using a spatula to lift the edges away from the pan. When the bottom looks cooked, use the spatula or a flat cover or plate to flip it over to the other side and continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Serve immediately or at room temperature with a salad.

  • The combined flavors of the herbs are even more pronounced the following day if you have leftovers.

Per serving (without bread or salad)
Energy: 370 kJ/ 201 cals; Protein 16 g; Fat 10 g (includes 3 g saturated fat and 320 mg cholesterol); Carbs 3 g; Fibre 1 g. Because the carbohydrate content is minimal, this frittata will have little impact on your blood glucose levels.

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.

Creamy bean soup with sage & parmesan
Pulses or legumes are an important part of a low GI diet which is why it’s a good idea to try and include them in your meals at least twice a week – more often if you are vegetarian or vegan. One serve is equivalent to ½ cup cooked beans, lentils or chickpeas. This is an easy recipe for a quick smart meal on the run as it only takes about 10 minutes to whip up and the leftovers can be reheated for lunch or popped into the freezer. Makes 4 serves @ $1.10 per serving
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
½–1 teaspoon dried sage (or thyme)
2 × 400 g cans cannellini or butter beans, drained and rinsed
3 cups water or vegetable stock
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese



  • Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and sauté the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes or until the onions are soft, stirring occasionally so they don’t burn. Stir in the sage.

  • Tip the beans into the saucepan and pour over 3 cups of water. Cover and bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Scoop out 1 cup of the liquid and set it aside.

  • Whiz the soup to a creamy puree, adding the reserved liquid for a thinner soup if you prefer. Stir in the cheese and season with freshly ground black pepper. Reheat, ladle into bowls and serve topped with a few twists of freshly ground black pepper.
Per serving
Energy: 1040 kJ/ 248 cals; Protein 15 g; Fat 8 g (includes 2 g saturated fat and 7 mg cholesterol); Carbs 27 g; Fibre 8 g

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Myth: Some foods burn fat.

[NICOLE]
Nicole Senior

Fact: Burning body fat (losing weight) requires an energy deficit and individual foods are unlikely to make a big difference to your waistline.
The idea that some foods have inherent fat-burning properties has been around for some time. Until I typed ‘fat-burning foods’ into my search engine I had no idea so many foods were recommended for this amazing ability. Bananas, chilli, ginger, garlic, grapefruit, pineapple, low-fat dairy products, kidney beans, green tea, eggs and even olive oil get a mention. There is obviously some confusion about the difference between healthy foods to include in a weight loss diet and actual ‘fat-burning foods’, but is there any evidence to back up any such claims? A perusal of the scientific literature revealed several foods showing some promising effects: green tea, caffeine and chilli. Contrary to the diet book of the same name, evidence for the fat-burning power of grapefruit is conspicuously absent.

Green tea contains antioxidants called catechins which have been found to increase metabolic rate and fat oxidation (the sciency term for fat-burning). But before you go out and drink your own body weight in green tea you need to know the research is far from conclusive and any effect is likely to be somewhat modest. On the plus side, green tea is typically consumed without milk and sugar and without sticky buns and chocolate biscuits. Even without the fat-burning benefits, green tea is a zero kilojoule/calorie source of fluids with the bonus of antioxidants.

Caffeine is well known for its effect in enhancing exercise performance. It actually releases stored fat to fuel exercising muscles. The stimulant effect also helps to reduce fatigue and make exercise feel easier. As expected, there is a down side – too much caffeine is harmful. There are also practical aspects to consider. For instance, a cup of instant coffee or tea before your morning jog is likely to have benefit, whereas an ‘energy drink’ loaded with sugar or an iced coffee on whole milk with whipped cream without exercise will not.

Chillies have an active ingredient called capsaicin, which is the substance that makes them taste hot. The studies on chilli are small and show a variety of responses between individuals, however they do support the idea that daily ingestion increases metabolic rate and increases ‘fat burning’. However the positive impact is limited by the small amounts typically consumed, and eating it daily poses a challenge. On the practical side, chilli is popular in Tex-Mex cuisine and it is easy to see how any advantage could be lost amidst the corn chips, cheese and sour cream! On the other hand, chilli in high concentration may forcefully put the brakes on eating because of the pain, and comes with the added bonus of clearing out your sinuses. There is no need to suffer pain in your quest for health because enjoying comfortable levels of chilli within healthy, balanced meals is one of the many natural highs you can get eating great-tasting food flavoured with healthful herbs and spices rather than the demon salt.

For more information about heart-friendly foods and enjoyable healthy eating including recipes, check out eattobeatcholesterol.com.au.

[SUN]

Talking Turkey with Prof Trim

True or false?



  1. You have to bust a gut to lose a gut.


  2. Sit-ups will not help reduce fat off the waist.


  3. Exercise is better than dieting for weight loss.


  4. Swimming is better than walking for weight loss.


  5. Exercise before breakfast is better for fat loss.


  6. Sauna baths are good for fat loss.


  7. Weight lifting is good for fat loss.


  8. The best measure of body fat is Body Mass Index (BMI).


  9. You lose more weight doing exercise you are good at.


  10. An overweight person can be fit and healthy.
The Answers:

Prof Trim Answers
Click on the table for a full-sized view

[GARRY EGGER]
Dr Garry Egger aka Prof Trim

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

    Your Success Stories

    I’m frustrated and angry at being ignored for so long. I fell through the net. My experience should become a case study to avoid the problem occurring for other people. – Angus

    ‘Some 20 years ago when I went home to visit my family in Scotland I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and put on oral medication. When I returned home to Adelaide, my doctor conducted the normal HbA1c test and was delighted at the result which showed I had perfect diabetes control and discontinued my medication.

    Over the years, numerous health professionals assured me that despite some of my pathology reports showing fasting blood glucose levels on the high side, my HbA1c tests showed I was maintaining excellent control of my diabetes. But I knew my diabetes management was far from perfect. I continually felt unwell and my own blood glucose monitoring showed my levels were high, especially under job related stress. I eventually stopped taking my BGLs as I didn’t see the point.

    Frustrated that no one would listen to me, I entered into a research program for people with diabetes. Over a five-year period I had blood samples taken every six months to measure my HbA1c. Again, the results came back showing that my diabetes was continuing to be well-managed.

    Eventually, I saw another endocrinologist, who finally solved the mystery of why numerous laboratory-based tests performed over almost 24 years showed my HbA1c readings were within normal range. He ordered a frucosamine test, which measures blood glucose over a shorter period, and following further investigations, told me that I had haemoglobinopathy

    I had never heard of haemoglobinopathy so I went away and researched to find out what it all meant. In fact it is an hereditary, uncommon blood abnormality and a pitfall in diagnostics because it interferes with the HbA1 readings. After my diagnosis, I was put on additional oral medication and my diabetes management is back on track.

    My story highlights the need for a greater focus on patient-centered care. Health professionals need to listen to what patients say and when results don’t continually add up, people need to be referred to specialist services. When blood glucose results obtained at home over an extended period of time differ substantially from the HbA1c tests, it’s important to consider so called “interfering factors”, one of which could be haemoglobinopathy.’

    GI Symbol News with Alan Barclay

    [ALAN]
    Alan Barclay

    Facelift for the GI Symbol
    Look out for the new and much brighter GI Symbol in your supermarket. The new Symbol, which started appearing on products on supermarket shelves in Australia at the end of September, has all the same trusted credentials as the old one. We have just given it a facelift to make it much brighter and help you make your healthy choices, even easier choices.

    New GI Logo

    The GI Symbol is your trusted guide to healthier food choices. You can be confident that when you choose a food that carries the GI Symbol, that the GI value stated near the nutrition information panel is accurate and the product meets the GI Symbol Program’s strict nutrition criteria.

    The Glycemic Index Symbol Program is an international public health program which provides accurate and balanced information on the glycemic index. The Program guarantees that a food carrying the GI symbol has been independently GI tested by an accredited laboratory and meets very strict nutrient criteria, which include specified limits for carbohydrate, energy (kilojoules or calories), total and saturated fat, sodium and, where appropriate, fibre and calcium. Manufacturers pay a licence fee to use the Symbol on food labels and this income is channelled back into research and education.

    The Program is run by the Glycemic Index Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation established by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the University of Sydney, and Diabetes Australia who are all represented on the board. The Foundation is committed to promoting healthier lifestyles through a combination of low GI diets and sound nutrition.

    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: alan@gisymbol.com
    Website: http://www.gisymbol.com/