GI News—February 2007

In This Issue:

• Food For Thought
  —Should you be eating that, it’s full of sugar?
  —What does 40 grams of added sugar in a healthy diet look like?
  
• GI News Briefs
  —The perils of iron overload
  —When cloudy is better than clear
  —Reducing the risk of dementia
  —Setting GI labelling standards in Australia
  
• Low GI Food of the Month
  —Fructose
  
• Low GI Recipes of the Month
  —Apple and polenta crumble
  —Penne with tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil
  —High protein oat waffles
  
• Success Story
  —‘What a relief to finally understand why a little butter and sugar actually won’t kill you.’ – Jane
  —‘I am in my mid-seventies and feel renewed.’ – Karl
  
• What's New?
  —Guide to Farmers’ Markets
  —The Don’t Go Hungry Diet
• Feedback—Your FAQs Answered
  
  1. I notice that the GI for oatmeal varies. How can I find oatmeal with the lower GI?
     
  2. Does slow cooking raise the GI of a dish?
     
  3. Does it matter what flower my honey comes from?
  4. In The Low GI Diet do you have an easy way to relate the recipes to daily allowances and categories?
• GI Values Update
  —Low GI sugar
  —Convenience meals for the US and Canada
  —Where can I get more information on GI testing?
  —Where can I get more information on the GI Symbol Program?
  —Wendy’s Chocollo
  

GI News Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web Design and Management: Scott Dickinson

GI News Briefs

The perils of iron overload
It’s well known that a chronic shortage of iron leads to anaemia. Too much iron can cause problems, too. Researchers writing in the January issue of Diabetes Care found that a high iron intake was associated with heart disease in women with diabetes. The researchers followed up 6,161 women from the Nurses' Health Study with type 2 diabetes over 20 years to investigate the relationship of dietary iron and red meat to heart disease. After accounting for age and body weight, the researchers found that the women who had the highest intake of heme iron and red meat had a 50 per cent greater risk of developing heart disease than those with the lowest intake, especially if they were postmenopausal. The writers conclude that to prevent heart disease: ‘patients with type 2 diabetes may consider reducing their consumption of heme iron and red meat’.
– Diabetes Care 30:101-106, 2007


Hemoglobin model

GI Group: There are two dietary sources of iron that our bodies can use:

• Heme (haem) iron from animal foods such as meat, chicken, fish and offal
• Non-heme iron from eggs and plant foods such as legumes, cereal grains, nuts, seeds, dark green leafy vegetables and dried fruit.

If you have type 2 diabetes and you love your red meat, there’s no need to give it up. Just be quite moderate with the amount you eat as the researchers suggest. Did you know that 100 grams (3½ oz) of lean meat as part of a balanced diet will meet the daily nutrient needs of an adult?

When cloudy is better than clear
Researchers at the Agricultural University of Wroclaw have found that cloudy apple juice can have up to four times more antioxidants than clear because of the manufacturing process. The potent antioxidants in apples are polyphenols – also found in red wine, berries and dark chocolate. The scientists measured the amount of procyanidins, the main compounds that contain polyphenols, in two varieties of clear and cloudy apple juices. The cloudy apple juice, which contains more pulp, had higher concentrations of antioxidants and showed more antioxidant activity. They also found the same results for clear and pureed or cloudy strawberry juices.
– Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture



GI Group: The apple juices GI-tested to date all have a low GI (37–44), but the cloudy juice, Wild About Fruit Apple Juice with Fibre, was the lowest. Remember a serve is a small glass, around 200 ml (7 fl oz).

Reducing the risk of dementia
Is insulin resistance a modifiable midlife risk factor for dementia? A new study published in the December issue of Diabetes Care reports that hyperinsulinemia is linked to cognitive decline. Hyperinsulinemia is a condition when the level of insulin in the blood is higher than normal. It is caused by overproduction of insulin by the body and is related to insulin resistance. The researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina examined 7148 healthy adults who were given a series of cognitive tests at the outset and followed up six years later. They report that those with the highest level of insulinemia had the significantly greater declines in delayed word recall and first letter word fluency.
– Diabetes Care 2006;29.2688-93




Setting GI labelling standards in Australia
In a world first, Standards Australia have released a standard for use by food manufacturers, accreditation bodies, regulators, educational institutes, testing laboratories, and research organisations that sets out a recognised scientific method for determining the GI of carbohydrates in foods.



What does it mean? It doesn't change the GI in anyway, but it does stop manufacturers from making false claims about the GI on their product labels and in advertising and marketing. Australian consumers can now be confident that if the label says a food is 'low GI' then it really is low GI, and it really has been tested by an accredited laboratory such as Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service. For a list of accredited laboratories around the world see 'GI Testing' in the right-hand column. If you head over to the SAI Global WebShop, you can buy a copy of the standard for GI testing (insert 'glycemic index' in the search box). The standard has been submitted to the International Standards Organisation for possible adoption by other member countries around the world, so eventually consumers in the United States, Canada and Europe and other parts of the world may benefit from this initiative.


Click on the document image for a preview (PDF, 550 kb).

Food for Thought

Should you be eating that, it’s full of sugar?
Feel guilty every time you enjoy something sweet? Do you think having diabetes equals no sugar? Join the club. Not only that, if you have diabetes, you have probably been on the receiving end of an accusing: ‘Should you be eating that, it’s full of sugar?’ Or ‘I thought sugar was to be avoided like the plague.’ It’s not only irritating, it’s outdated (the sugar taboo was based on experiments on dogs in the 1920s). But old habits die hard. And be grateful the Diet Police didn’t grab that lifesaving lolly or sweet drink out of your hands while you were having a hypo.


Photo: Ian Hofstetter

One of the happy spin-offs of glycemic index research has shown that most sugars in foods produce quite moderate blood glucose responses, lower than most starches. Why? Well sugars (including sucrose/table sugar GI 60) are a mixture of molecules, some of which have only a negligible effect on blood glucose levels. Many scientific studies clearly show that a moderate amount of sugar in diabetic diets (for example 30–50 grams or 6–10 teaspoons) does not lead to poor blood glucose control nor weight gain. Keep in mind, however, that this moderate amount includes all sources of refined sugar you consume – white, brown, raw, treacle, golden syrup, soft drinks, desserts, cookies breakfast cereals or a teaspoon of sugar added to a cup of tea or coffee.

When you want a little sweetness in your life, opt for nutritious foods that will provide more than calories – porridge with brown sugar, a dollop of jam on grainy toast, muesli with fruit yoghurt, a scoop of low fat ice-cream with a baked apple. And it’s OK to enjoy a treat occasionally too, such as two or three squares of good quality chocolate.

What does 40 grams of added sugar look like in a healthy diet?

Diabetes dietitian Kaye Foster-Powell shows us what 40 grams of added sugar looks like in a healthy diet for someone with diabetes.










Photos: Scott Dickinson

Nutritional analysis
The total energy content is 1520 calories (6400 kJ) with 22% energy from fat and 55% from carbohydrate. The fat content is 38 grams. The total carbohydrate content is 220 grams with 112 grams from starch and 108 grams from sugars (added plus naturally occurring).

Low GI Food of the Month

Fructose
Fructose is a sugar that’s abundant in nature – you’ll find it in fruit, berries and honey. It has provided humans with carbohydrate energy for millions of years. As a product today it stands out from the crowd of alternative sweeteners, being sweeter than sugar (it depends on the temperature, the colder the better), providing the same amount of calories, but having only one-third the GI (19). This means you can use less fructose to achieve the same level of sweetness, and as a result, consume fewer calories and experience a much smaller rise in your blood glucose levels.


Photo: Ian Hofstetter

The most recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2006;84:1374–9) found that a 4-week high fructose intake by a small group of healthy men did not lead either to an increase in body fat or insulin resistance. But there’s no doubt that fructose consumption per capita has increased in recent decades as it is more widely used by manufacturers for sweetening beverages and foods. Here are answers to some of the questions we are most frequently asked about fructose.

How come fructose has a low GI?
Fructose (GI 19) is absorbed and taken directly to the liver where it is immediately metabolised.

The food industry will lower the GI by using fructose or adding fat
It hasn't happened in Australia to date. For example, there are over 100 products in the GI Symbol Program. Manufacturers could use fructose if they wanted to, but to date there’s only one, a low kilojoule sports water, with 3 per cent fructose in it. And if a food was high in fat, it wouldn’t be able to carry the symbol as products with the GI symbol must meet a host of strict nutrient criteria including calories/kilojoules, total and saturated fat, sodium (salt) and where appropriate fibre and calcium. For more information: http://www.gisymbol.com.au/

What’s high fructose corn syrup (HCFS) and why is it a problem?
Corn syrup solids’ are often found on the labels of American foods. They are the most common form of sweetener in North America because they are cheaper than cane sugar. They are made from corn starch by enzymatic or chemical treatment. Further treatment produces HCFS solids which are very sweet and contain roughly 50 percent glucose and 50 per cent fructose. They are the main source of sweetness in soft drinks made in the United States and Canada. Although the name implies they are high in fructose, they yield the same number of fructose molecules as cane sugar during digestion and absorption.



I have fructose malabsorption. How can I eat a balanced diet since a lot of fruit and veggies seem to be ruled out?
If you have fructose malabsorption it means that the small intestine is impaired in its ability to absorb fructose which then passes through to the large intestine where bacterial fermentation can cause symptoms such as bloating, wind, pain, diarrhoea and/or constipation says IBS specialist dietitian Sue Shepherd. The good news is that foods with more fructose than glucose tend to be the problem, as are foods with a lot of fructose (regardless of the amount of glucose). To make sure you are eating a balanced diet, see a dietitian. And if you want recipes, check out Sue Shepherd’s website. She has self published two ‘Irresistible for the Irritable’ cookbooks that will be helpful: http://www.coeliac.com.au/

Is it true that if fructose is consumed after eating a large meal that overly raises the blood glucose or with high glycemic foods, it no longer has a low glycemic value as it takes on the value of the high glycemic foods?
This is not correct. Fructose mixed with a high GI meal gives you something intermediate between the two.

Low GI Recipes of the Month

Apple and polenta crumble
There's nothing more comforting than apple crumble, yet sadly for those who are gluten intolerant, even one made with oat flakes is unapproachable. Here's a low GI, gluten free alternative from Food Coach Judy Davie using polenta and while it may not have exactly the same consistency as traditional crumble made from flour, sugar and butter, it is better for you and will give you that same sense of nurturing and warmth. If you enjoy this and want to try more of Judy’s recipes, visit www.thefoodcoach.com.au



Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Serves 6

1 cup coarse polenta
2 cups water
1/4 cup apple concentrate
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup corn oil
4 apples peeled and sliced (approx 500 g/1 lb 2 oz)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

To serve
Sheep's yoghurt (or your favourite plain or vanilla low-fat yoghurt or soy yoghurt)

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
2. In a small pan combine the apple concentrate, tahini, water and oil and slowly bring it to the boil stirring continuously. Add the polenta; reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring regularly for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. Arrange the apples in the bottom of a pie dish or individual ramekins, and sprinkle with cinnamon. Using your hands, crumble the polenta over the top. Bake for 30–35 minutes. Serve with yoghurt if you like.

Nutrition analysis per serve
Energy 1335/318 kJ/ Cal; 17 g fat (includes saturated fat 2 g); 4 g fibre; 5 g protein; 38 g carbohydrate

GI Express: Penne with Tomatoes, Buffalo Mozzarella and Fresh Basil
This tasty recipe that’s on the table in less than 30 minutes is from The Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook. If you are unable to find buffalo mozzarella, substitute with bocconcini or fresh mozzarella. Or, to make a lower fat version if you prefer, use a reduced fat ricotta.
Preparation time 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 4


Photo: Ian Hofstetter

320 g (11¼ oz) dried penne
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
140 g (5 oz) or about 16 semi-dried tomatoes
250 g (9 oz) small cherry tomatoes
100 g (3½ oz) buffalo mozzarella, cut into 2 cm (3/4 inch) pieces
1½ cups baby rocket, roughly chopped
1/3 cup picked basil leaves, torn
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Freshly ground black pepper

To serve
¼ cup (45 g) pine nuts, lightly toasted

1. Cook the penne in a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water according to the packet instructions or until just al dente. Drain, and keep warm.
2. Return the pan to a medium–low heat, add the oil and garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the semi-dried tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, increase the heat to medium–high and cook, stirring, for 2–3 minutes, or until the cherry tomatoes are slightly wilted. Add the drained penne, and mix it well with the tomatoes and garlic.
3. Remove the pan from the heat, add the mozzarella, rocket, basil and lemon zest, and season with pepper.
4. Divide among 4 serving bowls and garnish with the pine nuts.

Nutrition analysis per serve
Energy 2143/512 kJ/ Cal; 20 g fat (includes saturated fat 5 g); 7 g fibre;19 g protein; 61 g carbohydrate

GI Vegetarian: Bryanna Clark Grogan’s High protein oat waffles
If you didn’t make these crisp, ultra-nutritious, low GI waffles yourself, you’d never guess you were eating beans! As there’s no added fat for cooking the waffles, make sure you use a good-quality, non-stick waffle iron. This recipe is from Dr Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes. For more information (and delicious recipes) visit: www.pcrm.org



Makes 10 waffles (allow 2 per person)
Soaking time: Overnight
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 8 minutes per batch in your waffle maker

Cook’s tip: Make ahead and freeze
As they take a bit longer than ordinary waffles, cook ahead, cool and freeze in an airtight container. Reheat in a toaster and top with chilli or creamed vegetables.

½ cup dried cannellini, white kidney or great northern beans
2¼ cups water
1¾ cups old-fashioned oats (or brown rice flakes or quinoa flakes for gluten free waffles)
2 tablespoons sugar or 1 tablespoon agave nectar
¾ tablespoon whole flaxseed
1 tablespoon baking powder
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt

1. The night before, place the beans in a large bowl and cover generously with water. Refrigerate overnight.
2. In the morning, drain the beans discarding the soaking water. Place in a blender with 2¼ cups fresh water and the oats, nectar, flaxseed, baking powder, vanilla and salt. Blend until smooth, light and foamy. Set aside and preheat a non-stick waffle iron.
3. Pour 1/3 cup of batter onto the hot waffle iron for each 10-cm (4-inch) waffle, close the iron and cook for at least 8 minutes. If the iron is hard to open, let the waffle cook for another minute or two.
4. Repeat with the remaining batter, blending briefly before pouring each waffle. If the batter thickens while standing, add just enough water to return it to its original consistency. The waffles should be golden brown and crisp. Serve immediately with your favourite toppings.

Nutrition analysis 2 waffles (without topping)
Energy 823/196 kJ/ Cal; 3 g fat (no saturated fat); 10 g protein; 35 g carbohydrate; 6 g fibre

Your Success Stories

‘What a relief to finally understand why a little butter and sugar actually won’t kill you.’ – Jane
‘For reasons unknown, my metabolism seemed to change and I put on an extra 15 kilos over 12 months when I turned 35 – without changing my eating habits. I trudged off to the nutritionist - had my hormones, thyroid, blood sugar, everything tested, but nothing was obviously amiss. So it was decided that I was an over-eater (which I knew was not the case-more like an occasional binge-potato-chip-eater - sound familiar?) and put on a strict calorie counted, portion weighed and measured diet. Apart from regularly almost fainting from the constant and gnawing hunger on this diet, I only lost 4 kilos in 6 months. The nutritionist got angry and said that I must be eating on the side and lying about my calorie intake, so needless to say I didn’t visit that person again!

Then while surfing the web, I discovered the whole low GI thing. I suffer from a number of food allergies as well and had always joked with friends that I was allergic to the 20th century! Now that I have started the GI way of eating, I discover that this is pretty true. Much ‘modern’ food, (read ‘processed’ food) has a high GI. So after studying the GI, and cutting out most processed food, anything that even slightly resembles potatoes and a number of other high GI foodstuffs, I have lost 7 kilos in 30 days with no effort at all. I eat whenever I’m hungry with naturally much smaller amounts because real food is so much more filling. I always had the feeling that my weight gains and fluctuations were linked to what I ate, not the quantity, and the low GI way of eating has helped me understand just how that works within me. I was a potato-high-carb junkie.

I am just back from a two-week exotic holiday where I paid 50 per cent attention to what I ate (still avoiding those spuds!) and I didn’t put on a single ounce, while still enjoying all the local delicacies. Now into my second month, I have just got the exercise bike up and will help myself even more by getting out of my modern sedentary style of life with time on the pedals every day.

My personal understanding is that basically, the low GI diet brings us back to a culinary point in our evolution that our bodies can still cope with. And what a relief to finally understand why a little butter and sugar actually won’t kill you ... it’s more likely the white bread and cookies that will be your real downfall! But no longer mine!’



‘I am in my mid-seventies, and feel renewed.’ – Karl
‘As a physician I closely followed my blood chemistries and weight. At retirement my BMI was 26.5, body fat 25%, total cholesterol = 170, LDL/HDL = 2.5:1, triglycerides = 160, and HgbA1C = 6.3 - 6.6. After having a single stent placed in the LAD coronary artery, I became motivated to take control of those factors within my control. I discovered your website and obtained the recommended books and literature. After 18 months of maintaining a diet with a GI below 55, a GL at or below 80, limiting saturated fats, and consistently exercising with an output of 500 Kcal in each of two sessions a day, I have achieved an amazing improvement in wellbeing and energy. And I have the following bonus chemically. Body fat 17–18 per cent with lean weight gain of several pounds and a total weight loss of 25 pounds; HgbA1C = 5.6, total cholesterol = 115, LDL/HDL = 1:1, triglycerides = 60, and BMI = 24-25 (lean weight gain skews the BMI, and ageing reduced my height by 1.5 inches). Chemistries are important, but the most impressive is the activity level and sense of wellbeing. I am in my mid-seventies, and feel renewed. Thank you.’

Inspire others. Share your GI story.


We'll send you a free copy of The Low GI Diet Cookbook or The Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook if your story is published.

Books, DVDs, Websites: What’s New?

The Don’t Go Hungry Diet
By Dr Amanda Sainsbury-Salis

This book is about how you can work with your body to lose weight and keep it off. It’s not another diet book, in fact you can read it along with your favourite diet book be it a low GI diet, high protein or low carb. It’s by a molecular scientist who actually knows what it feels like to be fat. In her frank introduction to this book, Dr Amanda Sainsbury-Salis describes her own moment of truth: ‘After six years of dieting, I’d gained 40 kilos. I’d dieted myself fat.’ This was the moment she decided to use her scientific training as a biochemist to find a way to lose weight for good. For herself. And for everyone else in the same boat. The strategies she suggests in this book (and there are lots of them) worked for her. She lost 24 kilos in 2 years and 4 more kilos over the next 4 years. She has maintained this weight loss for 9 years. These strategies have also worked for her husband, many of her friends and hundreds of her clients.


Dr Amanda Sainsbury-Salis

During her research she discovered that the real enemy is a basic physiological phenomenon. Losing weight triggers a cascade of reactions in your body that makes it hard first to keep losing weight, and secondly to keep it off (sound familiar?). She calls this the Famine Reaction. It’s the mechanism that’s helped the human race survive famine and food shortages for millions of years. How to counteract it? That’s what this book is about. To tune into your body signals eat:

• A large variety of whole (minimally processed) foods.
• Mainly vegetables and fruits, the greater the variety the better.
• Just enough to satisfy your physical hunger (ad libitum) and not stay hungry or overeat.

Guide to Farmers’ Markets Australia and New Zealand 2007
Published by RMW Classic Publications
Low GI eating means eating around 2–3 serves of fruit and at least 5 serves of vegetables a day. To many people, increasing their intake of fruit and veggies seems a tall order. Here’s a tip – try tempting your tastebuds with truly fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables. You will not only taste the difference but get to talk to the person who grew the carrots, tomatoes, peaches or plums. Come Saturday or Sunday mornings in showgrounds, parking lots and town squares, check out your local farmers’ market with all the fun of the fair plus the best possible spin off – healthier eating for you and your family. This handy glove box guide (RRP $19.95) covers 80 markets in Australia and 20 in New Zealand.


Photo: Jan Powers Farmers’ Markets – www.janpower.com

Farmers’ markets have really taken off around the world and are the Number One tourist attraction in many areas. Produce can vary from stall to stall, so it’s always worth doing the rounds before you buy. Here are some websites to help you find one near you.

• Australia: www.farmersmarkets.org.au
• Canada: marketplace.chef2chef.net
• New Zealand: www.farmersmarket.org.nz
• UK: www.farmersmarkets.net
• USA: www.localharvest.org & www.ams.usda.gov