I knew it!: 'High GI' carbohydrates increase women's heart risk

[supernova]

Women who eat diets heavy in certain carbohydrates may be at greater risk of coronary heart disease, according to researchers.
A study of over 47,000 Italian adults found that women alone whose diets contained a lot of bread, pizza and rice doubled their heart disease risk.

These foods have a high glycaemic index (GI), meaning they release energy and raise blood sugar quickly.
....
The experts say much more research is needed to understand why these high GI foods, rather than carbohydrates per se, appear to pose a risk - and why the risk applies to women and not men.

Low GI carbohydrates, such as pasta, which release energy and raise blood sugar far slower, showed no such link with heart disease.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8615537.stm

This study comes with the ever popular, "more studies needed" disclaimer, but I've stayed away from high GI foods for a while now, even pasta for this very reason.

But I still wonder why it seems to affect women more than men?

[Kookaburra]

1. I've noticed the same thing myself

If I eat a meal with a lot of hi GI carbs, my heart races afterward, and I feel horrible. Have cut way back on them for that reason, so this makes total sense to me.

[supernova]

2. Thanks for the reply

I've stayed away from high GI foods because of the quick high energy/low energy snooze turnaround. I finally figured out that I could avoid the daily energy rollercoaster by avoiding these foods and evening out my energy levels.

[tabatha]

3. I have gone off carbs for the most part.

However, I do not think pasta is good to eat. It is refined food. I would rather eat wild rice, on the few occasions that I do. And, I have not touched potatoes in a very long time.

[supernova]

4. I don't eat pasta anymore either

not the least of which I seem to have developed an intolerance of wheat and wheat gluten.

I wonder what prompted the writer to say that pasta wasn't high GI?

The other thing is, these high GI foods for me area also addicting. Once I start eating them, I want to eat them 'til the bowl or the pan is empty! Not good.

OTOH, addicted to squash? Not so much. :rofl:

[salvorhardin]

6. Pasta doesn't have a terribly high glycemic index

41 for spaghetti made with white flour, 37 if made with whole wheat. On the other hand, if it's made with durum wheat, then its GI is 55. Broccoli has a GI of 15, while a bag of chips has a GI of 75. White bread is 71. So it seems like regular old spaghetti is right there in the middle.

[supernova]

14. Thanks for the info

I've not really known what GI number you would ascribe to wheat-based pasta. I still stay away from it due to the gluten and the insatiable appetite I get from it, though.

[Name removed]

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[Big Blue Marble]

17. Pasta has gotten a bad wrap.

Pasta, if cooked ala dente, has a relatively low glycemic impact,especially when eaten with olive oil and in moderate amounts.
I follow a low glycemic diet and eat pasta (yum) on average once a week.

Never eat overcooked pasta or pasta that is from a can. The starch will have been broken down far too much.
The key is in how long it has been cooked.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Thanks, saw this and was going to post. Don't forget HFCS is a mixture of glucose and fructose ...

so the GI for HFCS is really high.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071225065751AAankjE

[salvorhardin]

8. The glycemic index for HFCS is not really high

The GI for HFCS is about 64 which is slightly higher than table sugar (sucrose) at 62. That's high, but not terribly so. Fructose itself has a very low glycemic index of 22. Contrast this with watermelon with a GI of 72 or Rice Chex cereal at 82-89. A French baguette has a GI of 95. Funny though that a Snickers candy bar has a GI of 40 - a veritable health food! :D
http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.snac.ucla.edu/pages/Resources/Handouts/HOGlycemic.pdf

[eppur_se_muova]

9. Well, yes, it is the glucose, not the fructose, that causes the most concern.

Unfortunate that the label causes confusion.

There are two major types of HFCS's... 42 and 55. 42 is 42% fructose to 58% glucose. 55 is 55% fructose to 45% glucose. The former would have the higher GI. And there is a new specialty HFCS with 90% fructose, which should have an even lower GI, and is actually being studied for use by diabetics.

(A sucrose molecule, BTW, contains a glucose linked to a fructose. So when metabolized, it behaves as 50:50 glucose:fructose.)

The real problem is that HFCS is used in such huge quantities, even in products you wouldn't expect to contain added sugars at all. :(

It's kind of surprising to see grain products with such high GI's, but then I remembered: starch breaks down on heating to release free glucose. Supposedly, you can 'toast' cornstarch by browning it in a skillet. Stir it into a little water and taste, and you should taste sweet glucose. Now I'm curious as to whether the crust has a higher GI than the interior. {in the can't win for losing dept.: "How a food is processed is important. For instance even some brown bread’s crust is treated with enzymes by food manufacturers to soften the crust, which makes the starch more accessible and the GI level higher than white bread."}

Of course, one shouldn't consider GI alone -- watermelon contains relatively little carbohydrate, so carries less "glycemic load" than an equal weight of apple: http://www.nutritionsolutionsbyjulie.com/glycemic_index.html

[salvorhardin]

10. I completely agree

I don't know how we, as a culture, got to this point where we like all of our foods so sweet, but here we are. I don't see HFCS as the culprit but as a symptom.

There's a book I recommend called The Taste of Sweet which explores our culture's love/hate relationship with sweets. There are some rather dubious claims in it, and it's a bit too glib but for me the most fascinating aspect of it was how our cultural perception of foods evolves and is highly engineered. For instance, if we were to taste, say, a strawberry milkshake made in 1952 we might not even recognize the taste as being strawberry.

Here's a brief review my then girlfriend and I wrote: http://www.foodinthefort.com/2009/08/04/taste-sweet-review

[eppur_se_muova]

12. I'll swap you a book rec ... "Sweetness and Power"

http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780140092332-0

It's mostly about the cultural impact of the sugar trade, which was run on slave labor for centuries. But the trade was driven by demand, no matter how much the supply grew, so it's worth asking why, and he discusses that too. Sugar was originally so expensive it was used as a spice, in very limited quantities, but as the price dropped, new uses for sugar were found, and it was used in larger and larger quantities, so the supply was constantly trying to catch up with demand.

Interesting to think that most of what we regard as "candy" simply didn't exist a few centuries ago, and older "treats" are very tame to modern tastes.

(This book isn't entirely as good as it could be, but the topic is an interesting and neglected one, so worth the read.)

[supernova]

13. There was a book about Salt too

covering the same territory: cultural history and trade. Also a commodity that we now use too much of for our good health.

And it's true there wouldn't have been these big sugar plantations in the South and the Caribbean, and the resulting slavery trade, if people didn't develop a taste for it in the first place.

[semillama]

16. That's a very informative book right there

We used it in a class I had on the anthropology of industry in grad school.

[applegrove]

11. I was on the atkins diet. I need to go back to it I know.

[supernova]

15. I feel much better eating that way

It's very easy for me to concentrate on lean protein and low GI fruits and veggies. Makes shopping a whole lot less trying.

[applegrove]

19. I like the atkins diet, though I will say I had some scalloped potatoes for dinner tonight. Usually

I skip the starches and don't miss them much at all.

[supernova]

20. I make allowances for potatoes

Although, as far as your body's concerned, you might as well just pick up the sugar bowl and dig in! I really love french fries and will have them occasionally. Ditto scalloped. :D So I understand completely.

[Big Blue Marble]

18. Most likely this is due to resultant inflammation that occurs

when we eat high GI foods. These foods do stimulate the insulin response and cause the body
to store more fat which further increases the inflammatory response as well.

The key is to not avoid carbs, just the high GI carbs. You will lose weight: have more energy;
and respond to stress better with this diet. I have been eating this way for 15 years and love
it.

[Name removed]

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