As we are nearing the end of another tumultuous year, it’s a good idea to take a look and consider and analyze the situation. On that note, it won’t be a bad idea to look into GI index and GI load. No, we are not talking about the country’s financial health, or economy, they just remind you of the economics but these are both health-related.
Both GIycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL) are carbohydrates measuring tools, which can be used by everyone but are essentially used by diabetes patients to better able to manage their condition.
GI is the tool that calculates that when a portion of food is consumed how fast the carbohydrates in it will be absorbed by the body and broken to sugar and released in the bloodstream. Whereas the GL measures the amount of carbohydrates in a serving of food.
Now to answer your unasked question of why what’s the need? As we all know that eating releases sugar into our bloodstream which is then worked upon by insulin, however in diabetics insulin doesn’t function as it should. So any spikes/rise of glucose is an unnecessary risk which can lead to various complications like increased risk of stroke, vision problems, kidney failures, damaged vessels and so on. Ergo you can understand how very crucial it is to maintain your sugar. And these two tools come in handy in achieving this feat.
GI Index scores the food on how quickly they will release sugar and rates them between 0 -100. Any score between 5 – 55 is called Low GI, between 56-69 Medium and 70 and above High GI. Similarly, GL is rated as 10 or less Low GL, 11-19 Medium and 20 and above High. GI is singularly calculated for an item irrespective of the quantity, but GL is quantity specific and can be taken out by using the formula (GL = GI * Carbohydrate quantity (g) / 100). Understandably the preference is for Low category food in both GL and GI as these will keep a check on your blood sugar and help you avoid any sudden spikes and accompanied dangers. It’s also good for people trying to watch their weight.
Some say that GL is a better metric than GI, considering how it provides a more accurate picture of the number of carbs you will actually consume and their potential effect on your blood sugar. The most cited example to explain is that of watermelon. Watermelon has a GI score of 72 which is high so it should mean bad for you, but if you calculate the GL for about 100 g which is sensibly the portion size one would consume it comes up to be about only 4 which is really low and hence good for you.
So now you know what these are like apple and reliance group of companies in your stock market (and no those are just opinions not promotions). Invest in them for a brighter future.