GI Update

GI Q&A with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller



Can you explain why some ‘wholegrains’ have a low GI and others don’t?
Not all ‘wholegrain’ foods are created equal, in fact they can behave quite differently in our bodies depending on the following five key factors that can slow digestion, making them even better-for-you low GI choices.

Starch matters There are two types of starch found in foods – amylose and amylopectin – and the ratio of them in foods can vary considerably. The more amylose a food contains, the less easily the starch is gelatinised and the slower its rate of digestion. This is because amylose is a straight chain molecule, like a string of beads. These tend to line up in rows and form compact clumps. Legumes have lots of amylose as does basmati rice. Amylopectin on the other hand is a string of glucose molecules with lots of branching points, such as you see in some sorts of seaweed. Amylopectin molecules are larger and more open and the starch is easier to gelatinise and digest as in jasmine rice.
Size matters The larger the particle size, the lower the GI. It’s the grinding or milling of cereals that reduces the particle size that makes it easier for water to be absorbed and enzymes to attack during digestion. That is why cereal foods made from fine flours like many breakfast cereals tend to have a high GI value.
Fibre matters Soluble fibres – the gel, gum and often jelly-like components of foods like oats, legumes and apples – can lower your body’s glycemic response to a food because they slow down the time it takes for food to pass through the stomach and small intestine.



Insoluble fibres are dry and bran-like and often referred to as roughage. Insoluble fibres will only lower the GI of a food when they exist in their intact, original form, for example in whole grains of wheat (the kernel). Here they act as a physical barrier, delaying access of digestive enzymes and water to the starch within the cereal grain.
Physical entrapment The fibrous coat around foods like beans, chickpeas, lentils, barley and seeds acts as a physical barrier. It slows down access of the digestive enzymes to the starch inside and thus slowing digestion.
Starch gelatinization The starch in raw food is stored in hard, compact granules that make it difficult to digest. During cooking, water and heat expand these starch granules to different degrees – some actually burst freeing the individual starch molecules inside. If most of the starch granules have swollen and burst during cooking, we say that the starch is fully gelatinised. These swollen granules and free starch molecules are very easy to digest.

New GI values with Fiona Atkinson
Hurrah! A GI value for traditional Chinese pork buns!
The April edition of World Journal of Gastroenterology includes the GI values of 23 popular Chinese traditional foods tested by Prof Wong Heung-sang Stephen and his colleagues in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The results of this study are also preliminary references on the setup of a GI database for Chinese traditional foods. You can find the GI and GL values of these foods on the database at www.glycemicindex.com

• Low GI: tuna fish bun, egg tart, green bean dessert, Chinese herbal jelly, fried rice vermicelli in Singapore-style, and spring roll
• Moderate GI: baked barbecued pork puff, fried fritter, “mai-lai” cake, “pineapple” bun, fried rice noodles with sliced beef, barbecue pork bun, moon cakes, glutinous rice ball, instant sweet milky bun, and salted meat rice dumpling
• High GI: fried rice in Yangzhou- style, sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf, steamed glutinous rice roll, jam and peanut butter toast, plain steamed vermicelli roll, red bean dessert, and frozen sweet milky bun

Correspondence to: Stephen Heung-sang Wong, email: hsswong@cuhk.edu.hk

The Shopper's Guide to GI Values 2010 Giveaway
Find the GI values of your favourite foods and brands at a glance IN THE 2010 EDITION OF The shopper’s Guide to GI Values. It has the GI values of over 1000 foods plus special sections on sugars and sweeteners, gluten-free eating, and dining out.

The Australian Edition Giveaway is now closed. Thanks for all your support, we had over 400 entries. We will post the names of the Australian winners below in the next couple of days.

The US Edition Giveaway is now closed. Thanks for all your support, we had over 500 entries. We will post the names of the American winners below in the next couple of days.

	We have 6 copies of The Shopper's Guide to GI Values 2010 published by Da Capo Lifelong Books to give away to residents in the US and Canada only. The first six people to email will receive a free copy. Just click on the book cover to enter your name and address in the draw.
	We also have 6 copies of The Shopper's Guide to GI Values 2010 published by Hachette Australia to give away to residents in Australia only. The first six people to email will receive a free copy. Just click on the book cover to enter your name and address in the draw.

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

See The New Glucose Revolution on YouTube

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GI News—April 2010

• Why some of us are designed to drink milk and others aren’t
• The GI values of milks and yogurts
• Milk, muscle gain and fat loss
• Calcium, vitamin D and diabetes risk
• Are dairy-free diets better for you?
• Chocolate milk and recovery after exercise
• Nutrition profiling

For many of us, milk and yogurt are the key to strong healthy bones. By choosing the reduced fat or skim varieties we enjoy a low GI food that provides us with sustained energy and boosts our calcium intake but not our saturated fat intake. In this issue we will be looking at other benefits including the role of dairy foods in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight and why some athletes like chocolate milk.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web management and design: Alan Barclay, PhD

Food for Thought

Why some of us are designed to drink milk and others aren’t
‘The answer lies in evolution and genetic changes and not in ideology,’ says Glenn Cardwell.


Glenn Cardwell

What is lactose intolerance? Our major source of lactose is milk (cow, goat, sheep, domesticated buffalo, camel and human) or yogurt. It is not found in hard cheese or butter. When we are born, we have a digestive enzyme called lactase to break down lactose in breast milk to its constituent sugars, glucose and galactose, which are then absorbed into the blood.

By the age of five, many people no longer produce their lactase enzyme and can’t digest lactose any more. For them, large amounts of lactose can cause intestinal cramping because gut bacteria convert the lactose to gas and lactic acid. Not comfortable. They are now lactose intolerant.

Why some of us can continue drinking milk after early childhood Scientists have been able to check DNA from around the world and by marrying their findings to human history (who lived where, when), have given us a better understanding why some of us can enjoy milk and yogurt and ice-cream right throughout our lives and others can’t.

Around 10,000 years ago, when humans started to keep cattle as a beasts of burden and a source of meat, the ability to handle lactose in adulthood was absent. However, at some point over the next thousand years or so, a mutation occurred which allowed some people to be able to drink milk well past their fifth birthday and on into adulthood. Researchers who have studied the DNA from skeleton remains in central Europe, report that about 80% of people in this area had the mutation for tolerating lactose about 7000 years ago. This is a rapid spread of a mutation, strongly suggesting that it offered a survival advantage to milk drinkers, according to a new book (and a really terrific read), The 10,000 Year Explosion – How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution (Gregory Cochran & Henry Harpending).

Over time, the mutation became more dominant in parts of Europe through to northern India. It is thought the mutation occurred independently in parts of Arabia when the camel became domesticated and camel milk became part of the local diet.



In fact, being able to tolerate lactose in the diet, allowed the expansion of Indo-Europeans, tracked by both the spread of lactose tolerance and the Indo-European languages (e.g. Spanish, English, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, German, French). Put another way, if your native language was Indo-European in origin, then there was a good chance you could handle lactose over the last 7000 years or so. It also explains why eastern and southern Asia, Japan, parts of Africa and the indigenous folk of Australia have both a very different language background and the inability to handle lactose after being weaned.’

Glenn's complete article is HERE.

News Briefs

Dairy foods and weight
Although the jury is still out, the bulk of the evidence suggests that dairy foods play a beneficial role in weight management according to Dr Marta Van Loan who has reviewed some of the most recent scientific evidence in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. Her umbrella review covers observational and retrospective studies with adults as well as children and adolescents plus randomized clinical trials on body weight and composition, energy expenditure, substrate oxidation and fecal fat loss. She turns to research from animal and in vitro studies to investigate possible mechanisms.


Dr Marta Van Loan

In her conclusion she says: ‘In general, data from observational studies shows that dairy is a healthy, nutrient-rich food that, as part of a balanced diet, is inversely associated with body weight and body fat in children, adolescents and adults. In addition, several randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that diets including three servings of milk, yogurt and cheese per day enhance body weight and/or body fat loss in obese and overweight adults during caloric restriction and when dairy and/or calcium intakes are increased from inadequate to adequate. Moreover, weight loss was achieved in all clinical studies examining the role of dairy in weight loss where caloric-restriction was induced.’

Calcium, vitamin D and diabetes risk
Getting enough calcium and vitamin D for strong bones is a message we are all pretty familiar with. But there’s more. Emerging evidence suggests that getting enough of them also plays a role in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. And many of us aren’t getting enough.

Looking at the role of vitamin D and calcium in type 2 diabetes in a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Dr A. G. Pittas and colleagues found that:

• ‘Observational studies show a relatively consistent association between low vitamin D status, calcium or dairy intake, and type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome.’
• ‘Evidence from trials with vitamin D and/or calcium supplementation suggests that combined vitamin D and calcium supplementation may have a role in the prevention of type 2 diabetes only in populations at high risk (i.e. those with impaired glucose intolerance).’
• ‘The available evidence is limited because most observational studies are cross-sectional and did not adjust for important confounders, whereas intervention studies were short in duration, included few subjects, used a variety of formulations.’

In examining the intake of milk and milk products specifically between type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, the researchers found there was a lower risk for type 2 diabetes among individuals with the highest dairy intake (3–5 servings per day) compared to those getting less than 1½ servings each day. They make the point that ‘although calcium and vitamin D are important components of dairy products, their contribution to the measured outcomes cannot be separated from other components in dairy products.’

You can find links to recent papers on dairy foods and type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome published in peer-reviewed journals on Canada’s Dairy Nutrition website HERE and in the European Dairy Association's (EDA) quarterly newsletter, Dairy Nutrition Digest.

Dairy foods may reduce diabetes risk
A diet with a higher intake of milk and a lower intake of staples like bread and rice may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes suggests the latest findings from the Shanghai Women’s Health Study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology. The researchers identified three patterns: cluster 1 – women with the highest intake of dietary staples (rice, bread, and associated products); cluster 2 – women with the highest intake of dairy milk; cluster 3 – women with the highest energy intake. They found women in cluster 2:

• Were less likely to have abdominal obesity or hypertension when they entered the study compared with women in clusters 1 and 3.
• Had a 22% lower relative risk for developing type 2 diabetes during follow-up (when cluster 1 women were used as a reference).

Milk and recovery after exercise
‘Several studies report that milk can be just as effective as sports drinks to aid recovery in athletes,’ says Dr Emma Stevenson. ‘Cockburn and colleagues found having plain semi-skim milk after exercise that had resulted in muscle damage was more effective than a carbohydrate sports drink at lessening the decrease in muscle performance and the increase in creatine kinase and myoglobin (these are blood markers of muscle damage).’

However, at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, it was chocolate milk not plain semi-skim milk that was conspicuous by its presence with numerous elite athletes regularly seen drinking it. In 2006, Karp and colleagues had reported in the Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism that chocolate milk not only reduces muscle damage after exercise, but can also improve subsequent endurance capacity in well trained cyclists. It’s the extra sugars in chocolate milk that make it better for recovery than plain milk they speculated.

In a 2009 study published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, nine trained male cyclists cycled 51% and 43% longer after drinking chocolate milk than after carbohydrate and fluid replacement drinks respectively despite the beverages having very similar calorie (or energy) contents. For this study, the athletes completed a glycogen depletion workout, drank one of the three test beverages during a four-hour recovery period, and then cycled in an endurance capacity trial over three experimental trials. 'This difference could be attributable to differences in carbohydrate type and (or) fat content between the beverages,' write the study authors.

‘It is most likely that the combination of carbs and protein provided in milk is the reason why it is such a good recovery product for athletes,’ says Dr Stevenson. ‘Skim or reduced fat milk (plain or chocolate) also has a low GI and so can be a healthier alternative to sports drinks (yes, even with the added sugar in the chocolate drink).’


Photo: Cass Mortimer Eipper, Timothy O'Donnell, Emma Sandall and Joseph Simons from dance company Ludwig: www.ludwig.com.au

Milk, muscle gain and fat loss
A recent study by researchers at Canada’s McMasters University has found that women, like men, can reap the benefits of skim milk when exercising and training. The March issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found women who drank 2 cups of skim milk immediately after resistance exercise gained more muscle mass that those who drank a sports drink. The milk drinkers also benefited from a reduction in fat mass; the sports drink drinkers didn’t. For the study, the women exercised five days a week for 12 weeks and changes in their body composition were measured. ‘We believe there are two main constituents (among many other minor ones) responsible for the beneficial effects on muscle gain and fat loss,’ says lead author Andrea Josse, ‘protein and calcium/vitamin D.’

Nutrition profiling
US First Lady Michelle Obama speaking at the Grocery Manufacturers Association Conference said: ‘The vast majority of Americans rely on labels to help them decide what foods to buy. But we know those labels aren’t always as helpful as they could be. And it’s hard enough to figure out whether any one food item is healthy. It’s even harder to compare items. And folks just don’t have the time to line products up side by side and figure out whether these compare or not. And they shouldn’t have to ... We need clear, consistent, front-of-the-package labels that give people the information they’ve been asking for, in a format that they understand’


Michelle Obama

While we wait for those ‘clear, consistent, front-of-the-package labels,’ US-based Hannaford Supermarkets did something about it. They introduced the Guiding Stars nutrition profiling scheme to make it easier and quicker for people to identify the healthier options in their stores. With the exception of bottled water, alcoholic beverages, coffee, tea, spices, all edible products are rated. The more nutritional value a food has for its calories, the more stars it gets on a good, better, best nutritional value scale of zero to three. Many get zero.

Does it work? Well it may not be the perfect system (it does not take account of a food’s GI value for example), but research recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that it has had a positive influence on healthier food choices. The study was conducted by Dr Lisa Sutherland and colleagues who were on the program's Scientific Advisory Panel at the time the research was undertaken.

‘We used purchasing data from 2006 to 2008 from Hannaford Supermarkets,’ said Sutherland, ‘and examined the data before the Guiding Stars scheme was introduced and one and two years after it was implemented. When we looked at ready-to-eat breakfast cereals as a case study, we found that purchase of star-rated cereals by shoppers significantly increased at one-year and continued to increase in year-two. Although we did not measure individual diet, the purchasing of low-sugar, high-fiber cereals increased greatly after program implementation. This finding is of particular importance to our understanding the potential impact of such programs on consumer diet’.



Betts Fitzgerald, Managing Director of Guiding Stars Licensing Company, told GI News that the program ‘has now been implemented in more than 1500 supermarkets in the US including Hannaford, Food Lion, Bloom and Sweetbay. Kings Super Markets will launch Guiding Stars in 2010.’ Read more at www.guidingstars.com.

GI Group: If you shop in these supermarkets, please tell us if you find nutrition profiling like this helpful and whether seeing one, two, three or no stars has changed any purchasing decisions.

Food of the Month

Milk and yogurt in a low GI diet
Reduced or low fat or skim dairy and soy milk and yogurt are handy foods to have on hand for healthy drinks or snacks that can lower the overall GI of your diet.

Milk’s low GI (20–34 for various skim to regular fat cow milks) is a combination of its naturally low GI sugar (lactose) plus milk protein, which forms a soft curd in the stomach and slows down the rate of stomach emptying. The unique mix of amino acids in cow milk protein are also thought to stimulate insulin secretion, further lowering the GI. Low fat flavoured milks also have a low GI (26–42). Yes, they have added sugar, but it’s in relatively modest amounts (about 4%) compared with soft drinks (11–12%). Some are also made with alternative sweeteners. We don’t have GI values for goat milk as it hasn’t been tested (nor has camel milk). However, they are likely to be similar to cow milk.


Soy milk is dairy- and lactose-free and an easy way to include soy protein in your diet. The GI values of soy milks range from 16–45. To ensure it is a suitable alternative to regular dairy milk, manufacturers enrich it with calcium, riboflavin and vitamin B12.

Oat milk’s GI value (69) is roughly twice that of dairy milk, however we think it’s probably a better option than rice milk (GI 79–92) if you are choosing a grain-based milk. Look for calcium-enriched products. The only GI-tested almond milk to date is Almond Breeze (GI 25 for Almond Breeze Original). It’s not a significant source of protein or carbs (1g and 2g respectively in 240ml serving). We reported on it in GI News HERE. Rice milks that have been tested to date have very high GI values (Australia’s Own GI 92 and Vitasoy GI 79). They are typically processed from brown rice and are essentially a source of carbs (24g per cup). Choose calcium-enriched products if you buy them.

Yogurt’s low GI values are thanks (mainly) to the combination of acidity and high protein and of course the fact that lactose, the sugar in milk, has a naturally low GI (46). How low does yogurt go? Well, testing at the University of Sydney has found ‘diet’ yogurts have the lowest GI values (14–21) and contain fewer kilojoules/calories, and around half the carbohydrate compared with yogurts that have added sugars (26–43). Even if you are lactose intolerant, you can enjoy yogurt without symptoms because the ‘bugs’ (i.e. culture organisms added to milk to make yogurt) do the job of lactase digestion for you.



Soy yogurt (GI 50) is usually made from soybeans or soy protein rather than soy drink. Look for calcium-enriched, low fat varieties.

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 photosbysergio.com.

Seafood and mushroom lasagne
Lasagne is often the first choice for a special menu. I always use traditional Italian uncooked lasagne sheets. If you use pre-cooked ones, make extra white sauce for extra moisture.
Serves 8

2 tbsp olive oil
½ cup shallots or onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
230g (8oz) mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
½ tbsp fresh thyme leaves
450g (1lb) seafood (I use 225g/½lb medium-size uncooked shrimps/prawns, cut into 6 pieces and 225g/½lb scallops, quartered
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups 2% milk
4 tbsp butter or margarine
4 tbsp all-purpose flour
16 lasagne strips uncooked

• Preheat oven to 200ºC (400ºF).
• In a large, heavy-based skillet or frying pan, add the olive oil, shallots and garlic and sauté lightly for 2 minutes. Add in the mushrooms and continue sautéing for 2 minutes. Add the parsley and thyme, mix all ingredients well, and cook for 2 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and add the shrimps. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring well. Add in the scallops. Continue cooking the mixture until all shrimp pieces have turned pink (approximately 2 minutes). Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
• In a small pot, pour the milk and heat gently until it slowly begins to bubble (approximately 7 minutes), removed from heat and cover the milk to keep it hot.
• In a separate, small, heavy saucepan, melt the butter or margarine, add the flour and whisk briskly for 1–2 minutes, taking care to prevent browning. Gradually add the hot milk to the butter-flour mixture, a few tablespoons at a time, continuing to whisk. Continue until all the milk has been added and the mixture is smooth and thick enough to coat a spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• In a large pot with salted boiling water, cook the lasagne strips, 6 at a time, following the manufacturer’s instructions. However, limit cooking time to just 7 minutes. Remove the lasagne strips with a slotted spoon and place on a clean linen kitchen towel, taking care that they do not overlap. Continue until all the pasta is cooked.
• Assemble the lasagne as follows: Place 2–3 tablespoons of the plain white (besciamella) sauce on the bottom of a lasagne pan (30 x 22 x 5cm deep/13 x 9 x 2¼in deep). Add the remaining sauce to the seafood-mushroom mixture. Place 4 lasagne strips on the bottom of the pan, allowing them to slightly overlap. Spread about ¾ cup of the mixture evenly over the pasta. Keep forming layers this way until all the pasta and sauce are used up. There will be 4 layers. Cover the pan with aluminium foil and place it on the upper rack of the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for another 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, cover with aluminium foil and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Per serving
Energy: 1560 kJ/ 370 cals; Protein 22 g; Fat 12 g (includes 3 g saturated fat and 59 mg cholesterol if using margarine); Carbs 46 g; Fibre 2 g

Cut back on the food bills and enjoy 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 check out Diane's Money Saving Meals website.

Cauliflower pasta
You can ring the changes with this recipe simply by using a different cheese or herb for flavouring.
Serves 4

300g (10 oz) pasta such as penne (or your favourite shapes)
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cauliflower (about 750g/1½lb), cut into florets
1 cup fresh (low GI of course) breadcrumbs
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp chilli flakes (or more to taste)
2 tsp dried oregano
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

• Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water following the directions on the packet until al dente. Drain, but reserve a little of the pasta cooking water. Tip the pasta back into the saucepan and stir in 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Cover to keep warm. Meanwhile ...
• Cook the cauliflower until just tender (about 5 minutes), drain and set aside keeping warm. Heat 1½ tablespoons oil in a large frying pan and sauté the breadcrumbs and garlic for about 1½–2 minutes until the breadcrumbs are golden and crunchy, stirring constantly. Don't let them catch and burn. Tip them into a small heatproof bowl.
• Wipe the frying pan clean with a paper towel and heat the remaining oil. Sauté the chilli flakes, oregano and cauliflower for about 2–3 minutes on a medium heat until cauliflower starts to brown, stirring occasionally.
• Tip the cauliflower mixture into the pasta along with the breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese and chopped parsley, adding a little of the reserved pasta water of you wish. Season with freshly ground black pepper, mix thoroughly and serve.

Per serving
Energy: 1910kJ/ 456 cals; Protein 15 g; Fat 17 g (includes 3g saturated fat and 6mg cholesterol); Carbs 55g Fibre 7g

Gabriel Gaté’s mother’s rabbit, carrot and prune casserole
This recipe is from Recipes My Mother Cooked – a new book of family recipes and mealtime stories that provides a heart-warming reminder of the timeless benefits of home cooking and sitting down together for dinner. We would love to hear about your mother's favourite recipes.

‘My mother has always shared with me her love of good food. She is très gourmande! I grew up in the Loire Valley and my parents grew most of the vegetables, herbs and fruits that we needed. We also had a tiny vineyard and made our own wine. Both my Mum and Grandmother prepared the family meals, and from an early age encouraged us kids to contribute by asking us to do small jobs like peeling vegetables or making a salad dressing or mayonnaise. Some of my most memorable moments in the kitchen were helping to garnish the delicious home-made fruit tarts with raspberries, strawberries or apple. Rabbit was one of our favourite meats and during the winter months, wild rabbits were sometimes brought to us by relatives.’
Serves 4

1 rabbit, about 1.2kg (2lb) or rabbit pieces if you prefer
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped thyme
1 small brown onion
1½ tbsp plain flour
about 12 pitted prunes
1 cup red wine
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2cm thick slices
1 cup veal or chicken stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tbsp chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

• Cut the rabbit into seven pieces (the four legs, and the body, cut in three). You can also buy
• Heat the oil on high heat, then brown the rabbit pieces on all sides. Add the thyme and stir well for 10 seconds. Add the chopped onion and cook for 2 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and stir well. Add the prunes and wine and bring to the boil. Add the carrots and stock and season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and a lid and cook gently for 2 hours or until the rabbit is tender and the flesh falls easily away from the bone. Stir in the parsley and garlic just before serving.

Per serving
Energy: 2030kJ/ 485 cals; Protein 61 g; Fat 13 g (includes 4g saturated fat and 153mg cholesterol); Carbs 17g Fibre 4g



Recipes My Mother Cooked is available in Australia HERE.

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Myth: Dairy-free diets are better for you


Nicole Senior

Fact: Dairy foods are nutrient rich and low fat versions even better
Dairy foods (milk, yogurt, cheese) are nutrient rich and have assumed such importance in our diet as to warrant their own food group. This means that health experts and governments around the world have reviewed the evidence and concluded our health and wellbeing are enhanced by including dairy foods in our diets, and recommended us to eat them.

Along with their low GI status, there is a lot to recommend dairy foods. They are high in calcium needed for healthy bones and provide the majority of calcium in the diet. They also contain a bundle of other important nutrients including protein, vitamins A and B12, riboflavin, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and zinc. Regular milk drinkers have a lower risk of heart disease and stroke, and emerging research is discovering beneficial ‘bio-actives’ in dairy such as lactoferrin which enhances bone and immune health.

With so much to recommend them, why are there so many “dairy-free” claims on food these days? Why do naturopaths seem to routinely suggest people avoid dairy foods? Why are there websites devoted to the “dangers of dairy”?

Even though whole dairy foods do contain mostly saturated fat, this is easy to avoid by choosing low fat versions, and limiting hard cheese. Although some still believe milk is fattening, studies have demonstrated dairy foods may actually help with weight loss. The Asthma Foundation in Australia says that sufferers should not eliminate dairy without proper medical advice because food affects less than 5% of people with asthma. The idea that milk causes mucus has been studied in controlled conditions and has not stood up to scientific scrutiny.

Milk allergy affects 5% of children at most (and more likely 2%), and 1% of adults. Lactose intolerance is an issue for some people however complete dairy avoidance is not usually necessary. The anti-dairy argument is hard to reconcile with the idea that millions of humans have been eating dairy foods for several thousand years, and even today, the Masai in Tanzania live principally on milk, blood and meat.

Why do anti-dairy myths persist? Food myths are prevalent in societies where food is abundant and choices are practically endless. Are we fussy with our diets because we’re too well fed? Are we desperately clutching at ideas to narrow down our food options because they are now overwhelming? Are we looking to fix our broader dis-ease with hectic modern lifestyles? For those who have chosen the dairy-free path, I’m sorry to say there are a plethora of websites also attacking the safety and goodness of soy milk as well ...

If you’d like quality information on heart health and great recipes check out Nicole's website HERE.

Body Work

Too much sitting is bad for your health
Our public health advisers tell us to exercise for just 30 minutes a day. But a recent study on television viewing time and mortality published in Circulation suggests that’s only part of the solution to the obesity problem, as the human body was designed to keep moving, not sit for extended periods of time.

Australian researchers at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Australia tracked the TV viewing habits of 8800 adults in Australia (age 25 and older) over 6 years and found that compared with people who watched less than two hours of television daily, those who watched more than four hours a day had a 46% higher risk of death from all causes and an 80% increased risk for CVD-related death they report. This association held regardless of other independent and common cardiovascular disease risk factors, including smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, unhealthy diet, excessive waist circumference, and leisure-time exercises.


Associate Professor David Dunstan

‘It's not the sweaty type of exercise we’re losing,’ says Prof. David Dunstan, a leading researcher on the role of physical activity in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes. ‘It’s the incidental moving around, walking around, standing up and utilizing muscles that doesn't happen when we're plunked on a couch in front of a television.’ In fact, the study participants typically reported getting between 30 and 45 minutes of exercise a day.

‘What has happened is that a lot of the normal activities of daily living that involved standing up and moving the muscles in the body have been converted to sitting,’ Dunstan said. ‘People don’t move their muscles as much as they used to – consequently the levels of energy expenditure as people go about their lives continue to shrink. For many people, on a daily basis they simply shift from one chair to another – from the chair in the car to the chair in the office to the chair in front of the television. Even if someone has a healthy body weight, sitting for long periods of time still has an unhealthy influence on their blood sugar and blood fats,’ he said. The implications are simple, Dunstan said. ‘In addition to doing regular exercise, avoid sitting for prolonged periods and keep in mind to ‘move more, more often’. Here are David's tips for moving more:

• Switch off, stand up and get moving
• Avoid prolonged periods of sitting – whether in front of the TV, a computer screen or on transport. At the very least get up and move once every hour
• Limit your TV viewing to two hours a day
• Use commercial breaks for household chores
• Stand up and move around while answering the telephone

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay

Finding healthy low GI milks, yogurts and alternatives
In their ‘natural’ state, milks and yogurts are nutritious foods with a low GI. However, not everyone likes the au natural flavour of plain milks and yogurts, so food manufacturers add ingredients to appeal to a broader range of tastes and this can affect the GI and calorie count. Milk alternatives like soy, rice and oat milks don’t contain lactose and have different proteins and fats which is why their GI values range from low (soy milks) to high (rice milks). These plant-based milks are not naturally a good source of calcium, so look for calcium-fortified ones.

The key problem for us today with milk and milk alternatives is the amount and type of fats they contain. Mammal milk fat is predominantly saturated fat, so reduced or low fat versions are better choices for most of us (not kids under two). Milk alternatives can be a better choice from a cholesterol perspective because their fats are unsaturated. But choosing reduced fat versions is still going to be better for your waistline as unsaturated fats have the same number of calories as saturated fats.

Adding large quantities of sugar to flavoured milks and yogurts (and alternatives) of all kinds can increase their glycemic load and calories. So, products with no added sugar are going to be a better choice. The GI Foundation has developed the following guidelines for choosing healthy low GI milks, yogurts and alternatives:

Milk fluid and dried (as reconstituted) and dairy drinks

• Fat: 2g per 100g or less, or 2-4g per 100 g, provided that saturated fat is less than or equal to 20% of total fat
• Calcium: 100mg per 100g or more

Examples: Dairy farmers Light White, Skim Milk and Just Natural Malt, Honey and Chocolate (99% fat free milk), Sustagen (vanilla and chocolate).



Soy and alternative beverages

• Fat: 3.5g per 100g or less, or 2-4g per 100g, provided that saturated fat is less than or equal to 20% of total fat
• Calcium: 100mg per 100g or more

Example: So Natural® Calci Forte.



Yogurt, or soy yogurt

• Fat: 2g per 100g or less, or 2-4g per 100g, provided that saturated fat is less than or equal to 20% of total fat
• Energy: less than or equal to 35 kJ per 100g
• Calcium: 100mg per 100g or more

Examples: Brownes Fresh 'n Fruity® Yogurt, Nestle All Natural 99% Fat Free Yogurt and Nestle Diet Yogurt.





For more information about the GI Symbol Program
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Glycemic Index Foundation (Ltd)
Phone: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Email: alan@gisymbol.com
Website: www.gisymbol.com

GI Update

GI Q&A with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller



‘I’ve read that dairy products cause an increase in insulin secretion. Their GI is around 25–50 but their insulin index is three times higher. Is this a problem? ’
All protein foods (yes that includes meat, fish and eggs) stimulate insulin secretion – that's why you may see them described as being ‘insulinogenic’ to use the technical term. However, the proteins in milk may be more insulinogenic than in other protein foods because they are meant to help baby mammals grow and develop.

One of insulin’s many functions is to act as a growth hormone designed to drive nutrients into cells – not just glucose but also amino acids, the building blocks of new tissue. It is thought that milk may contain a unique combination of amino acids that together are more insulin stimulating than alone. There is no evidence that this either increases your risk of weight gain or lifestyle-related diseases like type 2 diabetes.

The disparity between glucose and insulin response is not unique to dairy foods. We have found that certain sweets and baked products also do this. Chocolate may also contain amino acids that stimulate insulin secretion.

‘I read a paper in Medical Hypotheses by Bodo C. Melnik about the need to avoid dairy foods. It basically said that milk protein consumption is a key factor in promoting most chronic diseases of Western societies. What's your view?’
This viewpoint is not new and I know quite a few people who support it. While all the theory makes sense, it doesn’t stack up in epidemiological studies (which are ‘natural’ experiments). In fact, in Western countries, dairy consumption is often associated with better insulin sensitivity, lower weight gain and lower cardiovascular disease risk (and one mechanism maybe the low GI of most dairy products).

To me, a whole race of people (Caucasians) have a genome that is shaped by milk drinking during our evolutionary past and we have high levels of lactase throughout life because it was such a useful food source. So I find it hard to accept that it’s harmful to Caucasians, even in adulthood. Perhaps, the rest of the human race are not so lucky. But even then, I think of milk as the secretion of the mammary gland designed for growth of a newborn mammal – how could it be both safe at that time and then harmful later? I think we should keep an open mind on this one.

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

See The New Glucose Revolution on YouTube

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GI News—March 2010

• Prime your metabolism to burn fat
• Eggs for breakfast help weight loss
• Blood glucose and cancer risk
• Renovate your breakfast with grains, cereals and porridges
• New GI values for breads and juice beverages
  
• Prof Jennie Brand-Miller on why breakfast flakes have a high GI

This month we take a look at breakfast in Food for Thought. We aren’t going to tell you that it’s the most important meal of the day – all your meals are important, or that you should eat like a king. After all, out here in the real world, most of us save the king-size meal for dinnertime. Why breakfast is important is that it breaks the longest time your body goes without incoming food so what you eat affects your blood glucose and insulin levels more than meals and snacks later in the day. We highlight some breakfast studies in News Briefs; dietitian Sue Radd talks about grains, cereals and porridges in Food of the Month, Dr Alan Barclay sets out the criteria for breakfast cereals carrying the Low GI Symbol and in GI Update Prof Jennie Brand-Miller explains why healthy high-fibre cereals like bran flakes actually have a high GI.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web management and design: Alan Barclay, PhD

Food for Thought

Prime your metabolism to burn fat with a low GI breakfast
Breakfast jump-starts your metabolism, helps you concentrate better (no hunger pangs to distract you) and generally gets the day off to a good start. Forget the excuses. It's easy to whip up.

There actually aren’t fixed rules about when to have breakfast. We all have different needs, backgrounds, lifestyles and morning rush hour timetables. Just do it, whether you sit down with the family, grab something as you head out the door, have breakfast in a café, canteen or at your desk, or make your mid-morning break your ‘breakfast’.



Yes, it’s that flexible, it’s just the first eating occasion of the day. However, research shows that eating breakfast first thing in the morning helps stabilise blood glucose levels, which control appetite and energy. The longer you wait, the more insulin resistant you may become. This means that whatever you eat next will require an elevated insulin response, making life harder for your beta cells and probably resulting in an elevated blood glucose reading.

What you eat for breakfast is what really matters. A healthy low GI breakfast can sustain you until lunchtime, prime your metabolism to burn fat and reduce your day-long insulin levels more effectively than any other single dietary change. It’s easy to put together. It just needs some:

• Low GI carbs. Why? They trickle glucose into the blood stream, fill you up, give you energy and can reduce your day-long insulin levels more effectively than any other single dietary change.
• Protein. Why? It’s the feel-fuller-for-longer nutrient, keeping hunger pangs at bay between meals. It also lowers the glycemic load (by replacing some of the carbohydrate).
• Fruit and/or vegetables. Why? A high fruit and veg intake is consistently linked with better health. If you don’t have some for breakfast it will be hard to achieve your daily target (2 serves of fruit and 5 of vegetables is recommended in Australia, for example)

Choose foods from each column and prime your metabolism to burn fat.


Click on the table for a full-sized view

News Briefs

More fat loss bang for your exercise buck with a low GI breakfast
‘If you are trying to shed fat, you may consider eating low GI foods before you exercise,’ suggests Dr Emma Stevenson. Her study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that a low GI breakfast before exercising could help with weight loss because it increases fat oxidation both at rest and during subsequent exercise. ‘A low GI breakfast also had an impact on appetite, with the women feeling fuller for longer after they’d eaten these types of foods,’ said Dr Stevenson.

Eight healthy women ate either a high GI breakfast or a low GI one in test sessions several days apart (each breakfast contained the same number of calories and same proportion of those calories from carbs, fat and protein). Three hours later they did 60 minutes on a treadmill before lunch.



Blood glucose was higher – as expected – after the high GI breakfast than the low GI one, and had returned to normal levels by the time the women began exercising. But plasma free fatty acids (FFA) – which indicate the amount of fat being used as an energy source – began to rise two hours after the low GI breakfast. Exercise led to a rapid increase in FFAs in both groups – but concentrations were higher in the low GI group. After lunch the concentration of FFAs was the same in both groups, but overall fat oxidation was higher in the low GI group than the high GI group.

Eggs for breakfast help weight loss
A study published in the International Journal of Obesity shows that eating two eggs for breakfast, as part of a reduced-calorie diet, helped overweight adults lose more weight and feel more energetic than those who ate a bagel breakfast of equal calories. This study supports previous research, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition which showed that people who ate eggs for breakfast felt more satisfied and ate fewer calories at the following meal. ‘People have a hard time adhering to diets and our research shows that choosing eggs for breakfast can dramatically improve the success of a weight loss plan,’ said lead researcher Nikhil Dhurandhar, PhD. ‘Apparently, the increased satiety and energy due to eggs helps people better comply with a reduced-calorie diet.’



Is an egg a day OK? It depends ...
‘Eggs are very nutritious. They are a good protein source,’ says dietitian Glenn Cardwell. They also contain omega-3 fats, as well as 11 different vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The common belief that eggs cause high cholesterol is untrue. ‘This idea was made on the assumption that cholesterol in food became cholesterol in your blood, which we now know to be incorrect. Most health authorities agree that an egg a day will do no harm – provided it’s not soaking in bacon fat,’ says Glenn www.glenncardwell.com

‘However, people with diabetes or those at risk should not consume an egg a day,’ says Dr Alan Barclay. ‘There is evidence that daily egg consumption will significantly increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and common diabetic complications in people with existing diabetes,’ he said.

Staying up to date with breakfast research
On the Breakfast Research Institute (funded by Quaker and Tropicana) website you can check out published studies relevant to breakfast science. (Links to PubMed abstracts are provided where available.) The News section includes reviews of recently published studies summarizing research objectives, design/methods, results, strengths and limitations. There’s also a commentary on the study.

For example, here’s what they say about the recent Association of Breakfast Skipping with Visceral Fat and Insulin Indices in Overweight Latino Youth study published in Obesity.

[Summary] ‘Breakfast skipping [in overweight Latino adolescents] was related to increased visceral fat independent of age, gender, total fat, total lean tissue, and total energy intake." Even occasional breakfast consumption appeared to result in lower visceral adiposity.’



[Commentary] ‘This is a well-designed and well-executed study on a minority population examining the relationship of breakfast consumption to changes in visceral adiposity. The study adds support to the importance of breakfast in a high risk (adolescent) minority population. It also breaks new ground in a useful area of study, setting up further exploration into breakfast and visceral adiposity in differing populations. The authors also plan future longitudinal studies of the factors examined in this study and studies examining the potential influence of eating patterns and breakfast composition on specific adiposity and insulin dynamics measures in this population. The importance of visceral adiposity and the relationship to chronic disease has already been established, making this a study of great interest in breakfast research literature.’

Blood glucose and cancer risk
People with elevated blood glucose levels have a greater cancer risk than those with glucose levels in the normal range according to the findings of a prospective cohort study published in PLoS Medicine. For every mmol/L increment of glucose, the incident of cancer was 11% greater among women, and 5% among men. The association was more significant in certain forms of cancer, such as in the pancreas, liver, gallbladder, and urinary bladder.


Dr Tanja Stocks

The study, which was headed by Dr Tanja Stocks and colleagues from the University of Umeå, included about 275,000 men and 275 women from Sweden, Norway and Austria. Their blood glucose levels were measured at the beginning of the study and their risk of cancer during the follow up (typically about 10 years later). ‘We still do not know for certain if the effect of high blood glucose directly causes cancer, or whether other factors are behind the association. We believe that a lifestyle that is beneficial for blood glucose control also reduces the risk of cancer,’ says Tanja Stocks.

Because this study made the headlines, it was reviewed by the NHS Choices ‘Behind the Headlines’ team. ‘Overall,’ they say ‘this research provides some evidence that high blood glucose is associated with an increased risk of some types of cancer. However, it did not directly test or suggest that high blood glucose causes these cancers. Although the research did find an association between high blood glucose levels and cancer risk, there are many other lifestyle, medical and genetic factors that may contribute to a person’s likelihood of developing cancer, few of which were considered in this analysis.’ Read more.

New website for type 2: www.theodb.com.au
The ODB is a brand new website for people with type 2 diabetes. It covers all the new drugs and treatments. The man behind it – Jim Montgomery – is a low GI diet success story. He swears his 11 years of an HbA1C of around 5.5-6.0 is due to exercise and Jennie Brand-Miller's Low GI Diet. His belief shows in the weekly updates of the ODB [the Original Diabetes Blog] where there is always a story about the low GI diet. In its first issues, Jim is engaged in an interesting trial of the world’s first, blue-toothed glucometer automatically reporting back to a specially prepared, personal website on Telstra’s BigPond. Check it out HERE.

Renovate your Recipes

Renovate your breakfast with grains, cereals and porridges


Sue Radd

Dietitian Sue Radd’s The Breakfast Book highlights the vital role breakfast plays in our health and wellbeing, and offers deliciously original porridge and muesli recipes from around the world made with unprocessed or minimally processed grains – Baked brown rice porridge with fruits, Buckwheat porridge (a traditional Slovenian recipe), Cinnamon spiced quinoa with dried fruits, African mielimeel porridge, Fig and almond couscous porridge, Warm barley and cherry pudding, Millet with macadamia and currants and Fragrant wheat with figs, prunes and peaches.

‘Natural unprocessed or minimally processed grains are under-utilised as a breakfast food,’ says Sue, ‘because few people know how to cook them. In fact you can buy most grains – rye, triticale, barley, wheat, rye and amaranth – rolled, just like traditional rolled oats. I simply use a variety of rolled grains to make a base for my toasted muesli and then add nuts and seeds and dried fruit.

Another grain I love to use is polenta. I grew up eating polenta for breakfast, not Weet-Bix or corn flakes. Polenta is very common in certain parts of Europe. The smooth, porridge like consistency makes it suitable for the entire family. The bright yellow colour is due to carotenoids present in corn. I find the easiest way to enjoy polenta is with milk, but of course you can also serve it on a dinner plate with garlic-scented sauerkraut, natural yoghurt and cottage cheese!

I also like to make the most of whole wheat kernels, though you probably have to go to a health food shop to buy them. Your entire kitchen will become fragrant with warm earthy aromas when you cook wheat. My favourite dish is a porridge based on the traditional Croatian recipe for ‘zito’, commonly eaten for breakfast or as a snack during the day. You can use other whole grains such as spelt or triticale for this, too. I like this dish kept simple, but if you prefer, add a dollop of yoghurt to serve. This is real comfort food as well as being highly portable – just pop it into a plastic container with a lid to go. You can also make it the night before – it keeps well in the fridge for up to a week. It is super-rich in dietary fibre. Tip, the wheat only takes about 20 minutes to cook if you use a pressure cooker.’

Sue’s fragrant wheat with figs, prunes and peaches

1 cup whole wheat
1/3 cup pecans, coarsely ground
5 dried figs softened in water for 10 mins, chopped
¼ cup pitted prunes, chopped
½ cup dried peaches, chopped
1 tbsp honey

Place the wheat in a saucepan with 5 cups water and cook, covered for about 1 hour or until tender. Drain the wheat through a sieve and place in a large mixing bowl with the other ingredients. Mix well until combined. Serve while the wheat is still warm or enjoy later when cooled. Makes 5 serves.

Per serving
Energy: 1022 kJ/ 243 cals; Protein 8 g; Fat 7 g; Carbohydrate 46g; Fibre 9g

You can buy Sue's Breakfast Book HERE

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 photosbysergio.com.

Fruit compote with Grand Marnier
Italians eat fruit for dessert. Fresh fruit must be just that – fresh. As the winter season draws to an end, before the spring berries and early fruits like apricots and cherries appear, cooks take their not-so-fresh-anymore apples and pears and slowly stew them, often adding spices and liqueur. Here’s how I do it.
Makes 9 half-cup (approx) servings

3 large cooking apples (Cortland, Jonathan, Macintosh)
2 ripe pears (Bosc)
1½ tbsp Grand Marnier liqueur
1/8 tsp ground cardamom

Wash, core and cut the fruit into bite-size pieces (do not peel). Place them in a large (3-quart) heavy-based saucepan. Cover the pan and cook slowly over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Uncover the pan, add in the liqueur, increase the heat and cook for another 2–3 minutes to allow the alcohol to evaporate. Remove from heat, add the cardamom and mix thoroughly. Chill before serving. Makes about 9 half cup servings.

Per serving
Energy: 168 kJ/ 40 cals; Protein less than 1g; Fat less than 1g; Carbs 9g; Fibre 2g

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 check out Diane's Money Saving Meals website.

Tabbouli
Also known as cracked wheat, burghul (GI 48) is made from whole wheat grains that have been hulled and steamed before grinding to crack the grain. The wheat grain remains virtually intact—it is simply cracked – and the wheat germ and bran are retained, which preserves nutrients and lowers the GI. Use it as a breakfast cereal, in tabbouli, or add it to pilafs, vegetable burgers, stuffing, stews, salads and soups.

When I was shopping for burghul in my local Middle Eastern food store, the owner leaned over the counter and said. ‘Don’t use too much, just a small handful if you are making tabbouli.’ She then proceeded to share her recipe with me where the burghul is softened by the juices of the cucumber and tomato. She also told me to use curly parsley not flat-leaf for a better texture, which is great because that’s what so many people have growing in their garden. Serves 6–8



3 tightly packed cups (about 3 bunches) parsley leaves, chopped
1/2 cup mint leaves, chopped
3 medium green onions (shallots/spring onions), white and light green parts sliced
3 large red ripe roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp burghul
1 large Lebanese cucumber, quartered lengthwise then finely sliced
Juice 1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil

Place the chopped parsley, mint and green onions in a large bowl and spread the chopped tomatoes over the top in a thickish layer. Sprinkle over the burghul. Top with the finely chopped the cucumber. Drizzle over the lemon juice and oil. Cover and chill until ready to serve, then toss to mix all the ingredients together.

Per serving (analysis based on serving 8)
Energy: 292kJ/ 70 cals; Protein 1. g; Fat 5 g; Carbs 4g Fibre 3g

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Myth: Gluten-free foods are better for you.


Nicole Senior

Fact: Only people with celiac disease and gluten intolerance are better off eating gluten-free foods – and some gluten-free foods aren’t so healthy.
The range of gluten-free food products has exploded in recent years and now widely available in supermarkets. While this is great news for sufferers of coeliac disease and gluten intolerance, the numbers just don’t add up. Since coeliac disease affects only 1% of the population, either there has been an explosion of gluten intolerance or there are lots of people buying these products who don’t have a diagnosable problem with gluten. It appears that ‘gluten-free’ has become the latest health fad.

Where does this idea come from that gluten is somehow bad for us? Dietitians commonly point the finger at naturopaths and other alternative health practitioners who recommend exclusion of wheat and gluten almost as a matter of course. Then the word-of-mouth message starts to spread. A growing number of consumers believe gluten-free foods are healthier and start to buy gluten-free foods by choice. More products become available to meet demand, the diet becomes easier to follow, more people buy them because they’re there, and the trend takes hold.

It doesn’t make sense that wheat (the most common source of gluten in the diet) would be somehow harmful. Wheat has been cultivated since 9000BC, is grown worldwide, and is the world’s third largest produced grain crop used to make a huge range of staple foods including leavened bread, flat breads, pasta and noodles.

Imagine not being able to eat regular bread, pasta, breakfast cereal, biscuits, crisp bread, cakes, thickened sauces and even beer? Wheat and other gluten-containing grains are almost ubiquitous in our Western-style food culture. The gluten-free diet has a high degree of difficulty, so why would you follow it unless you absolutely had to? In additition, a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition has shown reduced numbers of friendly gut bacteria and reduced immune function in people following a gluten-free diet.

However the real issue is the gluten-free products themselves. Many are highly processed and based on high GI ingredients such as rice and potato and some have lots of added saturated fat and sugar to enhance palatability, especially in the sweet biscuit, bar and cake category. Few products are based on wholegrain versions of gluten-free grains, even though they are healthier.

For those of you with symptoms of coeliac disease such as abdominal pain, diarrhoea, lethargy and iron deficiency, don’t self diagnose and put yourself on a gluten free diet. See your doctor first for a definitive diagnosis through blood test and intestinal biopsy (following a gluten free diet before diagnosis of coeliac disease can actually prevent a correct diagnosis being made).

If your symptoms are not due to coeliac disease, but you suspect food is somehow the cause, see a registered dietitian (an APD in Australia) with experience in food intolerance to identify the real dietary culprits and create a personalised diet for you to manage your symptoms.

If you’d like quality information on heart health and great recipes check out Nicole's website HERE.

Body Work with Glenn Cardwell

‘When should I exercise? I have read that you will burn more fat if you exercise before breakfast.’


Glenn Cardwell

‘The biggest factor for burning body fat is whether you do the activity in the first place. It may be interesting to speculate whether you burn more fat in certain circumstances, but the best I can give you is a general guide.

1. To burn fat you have to be active in the first place.
2. The fitter you are the better your body is at burning fat. To get to a reasonable level of fitness, you need to move your body 3–5 times a week.
3. It doesn’t matter if you walk or jog. You will burn more fat jogging for 30 minutes than walking for 30 minutes. On the other hand, you will burn more fat by walking for 60 minutes than jogging for 30 minutes.
4. The amount of incidental activity during the day will potentially burn more fat than a jog. Getting up from your chair, having a stretch, taking a quick walk around the office, using the stairs etc will probably burn more body fat during the day. So don’t do 30 minutes of exercise then tick the exercise box and plonk your bum on a chair for the rest of the day.
5. Notice how fidgeters tend to be leaner? One study showed that fidgeters burned an extra 40–60 Cals (165–250 kJs) an hour. Regularly have a wriggle in your chair or a fidget while you stand.
6. Weight bearing exercise like walking, aerobics and jogging are better at burning up fat stores than weight supported exercise like swimming or cycling. However it’s better to do something you enjoy than analyse its fat burning potential. Refer back to point 1.’

www.glenncardwell.com

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay

Finding healthy low GI breakfast cereals
Despite all the noise about sugar there’s more to making healthy choices in the breakfast aisle than going for the one with the least amount of sugar on the nutrition info panel. Good choices will:

• Be high in fibre (from wholegrains or dried fruit)
• Be low in added salt (sodium)
• Contain only good fats (e.g. from nuts, seeds and grains ), and
• Be low GI.

Carbs: The carbs in breakfast cereals come from both the sugar and starch. The nutrition info panel tells you how much there is in a typical serving but doesn’t tell you anything about the type or nutritional value of either of them. (Note: If you want to work out the amount of starch in a food, it's the grams of total carbohydrate minus the grams of sugar.)

Not all sugars are the same. The sugars found in Australian ready-to-eat breakfast cereals are typically sucrose or table sugar (GI 65) which is refined and usually added to the product, and fructose (GI 19) and lactose (GI 46) which come naturally with the dried fruit or yoghurt in the product and are a nutritious source of dietary fibre (dried fruit), and/or vitamins and minerals (dried fruit and yoghurt).

Not all starches (or ‘complex carbohydrate’) are the same either. First of all, there are two types of starch in food – amylose is harder to digest than amylopectin and the ratio of one to the other has a powerful effect on a food’s GI. Prof Jennie Brand-Miller explains how that works HERE.

Secondly, less processed grains like steel cut oats or traditional rolled oats are much harder to digest than finely milled re-constituted grains like bran flakes (See Prof Jennie’s comments in GI Update, below). Unfortunately, it is not possible to tell how refined the starch is by reading the food label – even the latest buzz word ‘wholegrain’ does not tell you the full story. So while a ‘wholegrain’ breakfast cereal is a good overall choice (it is higher in fibre, vitamins and minerals), its wholegrain content does not provide you with any real indication of how it will affect your blood glucose.

Fat: Many cereals from corn flakes to porridge oats naturally contain relatively small amounts of fat. However, it’s increasingly popular to add tasty and nutritious nuts and seeds to cereals boosting the amount of fibre and vitamins and minerals. Keep in mind that they are high in total fat, so can add significantly to the product's overall calorie content. However, the fat is predominantly mono- and poly-unsaturated, so it will not adversely affect blood cholesterol levels. Be aware that some mueslis are toasted in added oil or fat, often a highly saturated fat like palm oil. Traditional (untoasted) mueslis are better choices.

Salt: Because most cereals are relatively bland, it is common for food manufacturers to add salt to enhance the flavour – even if they have already added sugar (a little salt enhances sweetness believe it or not). Excessive salt intakes are associated with higher blood pressure, amongst other things, so salt-reduced or no-added salt are the ones to look for if available.

Tips for making good choices: Use our GI Symbol nutrient criteria for breakfast cereals to help you make a healthy choice an easy choice:

• Fat: 5g per 100 g or less, or 5–10g per 100g, provided that saturated fat is not more than 20% of the total fat content (or up to 15g per 100g if the source of saturated fat is grains, seeds or nuts but not coconut)
• Salt: (sodium) 400mg per 100g or less
• Dietary fibre: 3g per 100g or more

Breakfast cereals that carry the GI Symbol in Australia and New Zealand:

• Morning Sun Natural Style Muesli – Fruit Free Nuts and Seeds GI 55
• Morning Sun Natural Style Muesli – Apricot & Almond GI 49
• Morning Sun Natural Style Muesli – Peach & Pecan GI 49
• Naytura Fruit and Nut Muesli GI 48
• Woolworths Select Traditional Rolled Oats GI 57

Beware! Some manufacturers claim on their packs that their breakfast cereal is low GI when consumed with milk. The cut-off for low GI foods (55 or less) is for individual foods (i.e. the cereal itself), not a mixed meal (i.e. cereal and milk). The cut-off for mixed meals and diets is 45 or less.



For more information about the GI Symbol Program
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Glycemic Index Foundation (Ltd)
Phone: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Email: alan@gisymbol.com
Website: http://www.gisymbol.com/

GI Update

GI Q&A with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller



'I am curious why high-fibre cereals like Bran Flakes that look so healthy, and everyone assumes are healthy, actually have a high GI?'
Bran Flakes and Raisin Bran are fibre-rich breakfast cereals designed to keep you ‘healthy on the inside’ as they say. But they are high GI and digested in a flash because the production process makes the starch very accessible. It’s the same with most ready-to-eat breakfast cereals you’ll find in the supermarket

Why do these cereals have high GI values? Grinding, milling, flaking, popping and puffing grains radically changes ‘nature’s architecture’ and makes it easier for water to be absorbed and digestive enzymes to attack the food. This is why many foods (including bread) made from fine flours tend to have a high GI value. The larger the particle size, the lower the GI value.

One of the most significant alterations to our food supply came with the introduction, in the mid-19th century, of steel-roller mills. Not only did they make it easier to remove the fibre from cereal grains, but also the particle size of the flour became smaller than ever before. Prior to the 19th century, stone grinding produced quite coarse flours that resulted in slower rates of digestion and absorption.

When starch is consumed in ‘nature’s packaging’ – whole intact grains that have been softened just by soaking and cooking – the food will often have a low GI. For example, cooked pearl barley’s GI value is 25. But not ALWAYS. For example, some barleys have more naturally-occurring viscous beta-glucans (a form of fibre) that creates greater viscosity in the small intestine and physically slows down the digestive processes. It’s hard to know which varieties of barley are low GI unless they have been previously tested. Brown rice often has a surprisingly high GI too. This is because the insoluble fibre around brown rice is not viscous and it’s micro-thin. It’s easy for enzymes to attack the starch in rice because the milling operation has resulted in thousands of minute channels that allow water to hydrate the grain and gelatinise the starch during cooking. Greater gelatinisation of starch means higher GI.



Prof Barry Popkin on the evolution of cornflakes
‘Dr John Harvey Kellogg (1852–1943) was a Seventh-day Adventist who opened a well-known hospital called the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Actually, it was more like a health resort than a hospital. At Battle Creek, for example, Kellogg taught about food preparation, had his clients engage in breathing exercises and marching to promote digestion, and he gave his guests daily enemas and had them consume yogurt afterward … John Kellogg’s first great discovery was cornflakes, the result of experimentation in the 1890s. The sanitarium kitchen’s cooked wheat was exposed to air for a day or more. Then, when running it through rollers, separate flakes were discharged and cereal flakes were born. The breakfast staple became an instant hit at the sanitarium and beyond, as guests would write after their visits to request supplies of their food.

Somewhere along the line this dream changed. The realities of selling cereal globally transformed Kellogg’s into a company that produced a large array of products with refined carbohydrates, added sugars and fats. The original cereals were made only with whole wheat and contained a small number of calories and plenty of fiber. But that was then – at less than 100 calories per serving – and this, at 120–400 calories per serving, is now. The virtuous company that made truly healthy products is a dim memory. Even so, Kellogg’s Post, and other ready-to-eat cereals are a lot healthier than most breakfast alternatives such as bacon, sausages and fried eggs.’
– The World is Fat

And a tip from Michael Pollan …
‘Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.’
– Food Rules, An eater’s manual

New GI values from North America: low GI juice beverages
Sweetened with organic blue agave nectar, the new Lo-Gly juice beverages provide 140 calories (588 kJ) per 1 cup (8 fl oz/240ml) serving. Each flavour is certified kosher and the beverages were GI tested in North America at Glycemic Index Laboratories in Toronto. They are available in the US and Canada.

• Pomegranate (contains 49% juice) – GI 28 (total carbs per 1 cup/240ml serve: 35g)
• Acai-Blue (contains 57% juice) – GI 31 (total carbs per 1 cup/240ml serve: 34g)
• Pomegranate Mojito (contains 51% juice) – GI 24 (total carbs per 1 cup/240ml serve: 35g)
• Mango Mojito (contains 56% juice) – GI 32 (total carbs per 1 cup/240ml serve: 31g)

For more information contact Lo-Gly marketing manager Don Necochea: don@Lo-Gly.com

New GI values from Fiona Atkinson: Bakers Delight Chia Bread and Rolls
Bakers Delight have combined with The Chia Company to bring two new moderate GI bread products packed with nutritious chia seeds to the market in Australia and New Zealand.

• Chia White Block Loaf GI 63 – 1 slice has 17g available carbohydrate
• Chia White Round Roll GI 63– 1 roll has 31g available carbohydrate

You might like to know that all the volunteers commented that they liked the bread. That is a bit of an unusual/unexpected response because usually they aren't that keen to eat 3 or 4 slices of plain bread, but they did mention it was nice.

Dietitian Catherine Saxelby looked at chia seeds in GI News back in August 2009 and reported that: ‘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. And they contain 15% protein – as much as from wheat – plus 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.’

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

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