Why the Glycemic Index is a useless tool.

According to the Glycemic Index this is a nono.

Watermelon is one of the few top scores in lycopene.

So, in relations to my previous post on the case for white rice, I want to clarify why the glycemic index is nothing to be concerned about when switching from brown to white rice.

The Glycemic Index is actually a completely useless tool, simply because it is not relevant for how we eat. This is a typical example of something that sounds like a great idea in a lab-setting but it doesn't transfer from the labs into our lives. Rarely do we eat a meal consisting of one sole food, and the moment foods are combined then the GI of the individual foods matter not, but rather the combined LOAD of the meal. So simply by adding some organic butter on top of your long-grain high GI value rice you have a medium GI value for that meal!

Also, without going into any science here, does it make sense that we should avoid foods such as grapes, bananas and cooked carrots simply because they have a high GI value? Does that make them count as junk food? And what about pork rinds, bacon and blue cheese - foods loaded with sodium, nitrites and whatnot, yet they score low on the Glycemic Index. Using this logic, a meal consisting of bacon, pork rinds and drizzled with blue cheese should be healthier than a wholesome ripe banana full of potassium, B-vitamins, and even a bit serotonin?

According to the index you should avoid water melon and cooked carrots – both superfoods with regard to their natural high contents of respectively Lycopene and Beta Carotene. Ultimately, there are a lot of other factors that come into play when determining whether a food is healthy or not. Also, the Glycemic Index does not take into account the amount we eat of the various foods listed; this is where the term Glycemic Load is relevant.

In many of the studies on the Glycemic Index, subjects were forced to eat the same number of calories of various foods - 250 calories of white bread, 250 calories of carrots, 250 calories of potatoes, and so on. Eating 250 calories of carrots equals 1.5 pounds of food! Outside a research lab, it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to eat 250 calories of carrots in one sitting! Studies that take into account real-world eating, such as the one presented in Diabetes Care 2005 vol 28., found so-called high-glycemic foods like carrots and potatoes no longer raise blood sugar or insulin levels any more than many other foods. Nor do they enhance appetite or produce excess calorie intake and obesity.

Furthermore when we combine foods, then the Glycemic index completely loses its value.
Admittedly, there has not been done enough peer reviewed articles on this topic; however, basic common sense will tell you that eating a piece of watermelon which has a high GI is hardly more unhealthy than a lower GI food such as a cheeseburger, which will offset a cascade of chemical reactions in the body due to the contents of trans fats etc. The Glycemic Index is misleading and overly simplified.

That said, if you suffer from diabetes - similar to any other disease - then you do need to match your current health state with a medicinal diet that caters for your symptoms - and that means that you want to avoid certain otherwise healthy foods.

Every disease requires a specific dietary approach as does every genotype - but relying on the GI Index as a universal health tool is quite frankly a disaster.

What we need to focus on is a phytonutrient index, as most Americans are overweight yet micronutrient undernourished.