Dietary Guidelines for older Australians

The glycaemic index (GI) of foods is a physiologically based classification ofcarbohydrate foods according to their blood glucose–raising potential. It hasimportant implications for the prevention and treatment of the major causes ofmorbidity and mortality—among them non–insulin dependent diabetes, coronaryheart disease and obesity—in developed and developing nations. The recent FAO–WHO Consultation on Carbohydrates recommended that ‘the glycaemic index offoods be used in conjunction with information about food composition, to guidefood choices’. Current nutrition guidelines largely ignore the GI differencesbetween carbohydrate foods and use older classifications based on starch, sugarand fibre that do not reflect physiological effects on glycaemia or insulinaemia.Many types of bread and breakfast cereal have both highand low-GI varieties andwe need to guide people in the best choice and encourage industry to developnew low-GI foods. Foods containing sugar, whether naturally occurring or refined,have low to intermediate GI values and moderate amounts can help to reduce theoverall GI of the diet. Nutrition recommendations need to recognise majordevelopments in sciences: the GI of foods is one of these.