The Glycemic Index of Food- Should It Be Gender Specific?

Abstract

Glycemic index (GI) was developed to categorize dietary carbohydrates based on their overall effect on postprandial blood glucose. Low GI foods demand a lower insulin response compared to high GI foods. This is expected to decrease the incidence of insulin resistance, the development of obesity, and hypertension, which are risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Hence, it was recommended to add GI as a valid methodology complementing other dietary aspects that need to be applicable to both genders. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of gender difference on GI in healthy, normal BMI males and females. Healthy, non-smoking adults age between 18 -35 years of normal BMI, were recruited. Subjects were included following initial screening using a structured questionnaire and blood tests to exclude diabetes, dyslipidemia, and/or hypertension cases. A standard 50 g glucose tolerance test was performed for two visits for each sugar (glucose and sucrose). Blood was collected at fasting, then at 15,30,45,60,90,120 min after the sugar consumption and the area under the curve was calculated. A total of 11 men and ten women were included in the study after excluding prediabetics and participants with abnormal liver enzymes. The mean GI for the whole sample was 69. A distinctive difference between males and females was noticed in the GI and the response curve. For males, the GI for sucrose was 77, and the response curve peaked at 30 min, followed by a sharp decline below baseline at 2h. On the other hand, the GI for females was 60, and the curve peaked at 45 min. In conclusion, our study showed that there is a clear difference in GI between men and women. A larger study is needed to clarify this further and prove or disprove the need for separate GI lists for men and women.