Glycemic Index VS Glycemic Load

What is Glycemic index?

Glycemic index (GI) is a system that ranking the foods on how carbohydrate in foods may affects the levels of blood glucose. It will measure how quickly or slowly the carbohydrate in the foods digested. There are three categories of GI foods which are low GI, intermediate GI, and high GI. Foods that are categories as low GI are foods that are slowly digested and absorbed while food with high GI are foods quickly digested and absorbed. This concept have been introduced by Dr. David J. Jenkins around 1980-1981 in Toronto University. Eat more low GI food and less high GI food.

Some example of low and high GI food included:

LOW GI

                                           Fruits                                                             Chickpeas 

HIGH GI

                                       Cornflakes                                           Watermelon


What is Glycemic Load?

Glycemic load (GL) estimated the impacts of carbohydrates consumed on the blood glucose level by taking account the quantity of the carbohydrates consumed.  It can be calculated by multiplying the amount of carbohydrate contained in a specified serving size of the food with the GI value of that food, and then divided by 100.

source: Medical Nutrition Therapy Guidelines for Type 2 Diabetes