The Journal of nutrition
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The Journal of nutrition · May 2006
The glycemic load estimated from the glycemic index does not differ greatly from that measured using a standard curve in healthy volunteers.
Glycemic load (GL) is calculated indirectly as glycemic index (GI) times the weight of available carbohydrate. Alternatively, GL may be measured directly using a standard glucose curve. The purpose of this study was to test the agreement between GL values obtained using direct and indirect methods of measurement in 20 healthy volunteers. ⋯ For 3 of the test products (100 g white bread, and 100- and 150-g granola bars), GI x available carbohydrate was higher than the direct measure. Benefits of the direct measure are that the method does not require testing for available carbohydrate and it allows portion sizes to be tested. For practical purposes, GI x available carbohydrate provided a good estimate of GL, at least under circumstances in which available carbohydrate was measured, and GI and GL were tested in the same group of people.