Glycaemic load: summary table

Keen to follow a low-glycaemic load diet? This table lists both the glycaemic index and glycaemic load of common foods in alphabetical order

2023-11-14

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Glycaemic index and glycaemic load

The glycaemic index (GI) is a measure developed by doctors in the 1980s to evaluate the effect of foods on blood sugar levels, as part of efforts to combat diabetes. Basically, the more a food makes blood sugar levels rise, the higher its glycaemic index (1).

This device allowed doctors to understand that not all carbohydrates are necessarily bad for diabetics: some carbohydrates (such as glucose and sucrose) are worse than others (such as fructose and starch).

With this knowledge, they were able to categorise foods according to their GI:

below 55, a food is classed as low GI ;
between 55 and 69, it is moderate GI;
above 70, it is high GI.

However, there are two factors not taken into account by the glycaemic index:

the amount of carbohydrates a food contains;
the the serving size normally consumed of that food.

Because of this, we now have the glycaemic load: a new measure which allows a more precise evaluation of a food’s impact on blood sugar(2).

Glycaemic load formula

To determine a food’s glycaemic load, you multiply its glycaemic index by the amount of carbohydrates in an average serving of the food, then divide that by 100.

Let’s take the example of cornflakes:

they have a GI of 80 ;
a normal 30g serving contains around 25g of carbohydrates, so their glycaemic load will be (25 x 80)/100 = 20.

What’s an appropriate daily glycaemic load?

It is generally accepted that the daily glycaemic load should be somewhere between 80 and 120. Anything above that is considered too high.

To arrive at this figure, you simply add together the glycaemic load of all the different foods consumed during the day (using the amount actually consumed rather than that ‘normally’ consumed).

Glycaemic index and glycaemic load table

To help you, we’ve put together this table of the glycaemic load and index of 50 common foods. As you’ll see, it’s the freshest, least refined and least processed foods which have the lowest glycaemic load (3).

Food	Portion	Carbohydrates per serving	Glycemic index	Glycemic load
1. Apricot	100 g	11 g	34	3.8
2. Dried apricot	100 g	60 g	35	21
3. Banana	100 g	23 g	48	11
4. Cooked wheat	100 g	62 g	50	32
5. Bulgur	100 g	76 g	55	42
6. Raw carrot	200 g	20 g	16	3.2
7. Cooked carrot	200 g	20 g	49	9.8
8. Cherry	100 g	12 g	25	3
9. Dark chocolate	30 g	6 g	23	1.4
10. Dates	30 g	15 g	29	4
11. Dried dates	50 g	35 g	40	14
12. Wheat flour T150 (wholemeal bread)	30 g	15 g	70	10
13. Wheat flour T55 (baguette)	30 g	18 g	90	16
14. Wheat flour T65 (country bread)	30 g	15 g	80	12
15. Strawberry	100 g	7.7 g	25	1.9
16. Gnocchi	200 g	40 g	70	28
17. Cooked white beans	200 g	30 g	40	12
18. Cooked red beans	200 g	24 g	33	8
19. Green beans	300 g	12 g	30	3.6
20. Kiwi	100 g	15 g	50	7.5
21. Cooked lentils	300 g	36 g	30	11
22. Lychee	100 g	15 g	50	7.6
23. Mango	100 g	15 g	53	3
24. Honey	8 g	5 g	53	3
25. Plain muesli	100 g	57 g	40	23
26. Nectarine	100 g	12 g	35	4
27. Nuts	50 g	7 g	15	1
28. Orange	100 g	12 g	35	4
29. Orange juice	150 mL	15 g	45	6.75
30. Grapefruit	100 g	11 g	22	2.5
31. Watermelon	100 g	7.5 g	75	5.5
32. Cooked sweet potato	200 g	28 g	65	18.2
33. Cooked white pasta	150 g	40 g	60	24
34. Cooked wholemeal pasta	150 g	40 g	50	20
35. Fishing	100 g	11 g	35	4
36. Cooked peas	200 g	20 g	50	10
37. Pear	100 g	15.5 g	30	4.5
38. Cooked split peas	200 g	28 g	22	6
39. Apple	100 g	14 g	36	5
40. Apple juice	100 mL	11 g	41	4.5
41. Cooked potato	200 g	35 g	70	24.5
42. Cooked pumpkin	100 g	7 g	65	4.5
43. Plum	100 g	11 g	35	4
44. Cooked quinoa	200 g	38 g	35	13
45. White grape	100 g	17 g	56	9.6
46. White rice	200 g	60 g	70	42
47. Brown rice	200 g	60 g	50	30
48. Buckwheat	200 g	60 g	40	24
49. Semolina	200 g	70 g	60	42
50. Tomato juice	100 mL	4.2 g	35	1.5

Controlling your blood sugar

If you want to control your weight or indeed lose weight, it’s essential to monitor your blood sugar levels: the metabolism of glucose is a factor in weight gain, and especially fat mass gain.

This is because foods with a high glycaemic load produce a spike in insulin, and insulin allows glucose to enter cells. Any excess glucose generated is then metabolised into fat cells called adipocytes.

The good news is there are several plants and natural remedies that can help to normalise the metabolism of sugars and thus regulate glycaemia. The main ones are:

banaba, a tropical shrub containing corosolic acid, a pentacyclic triterpene which transports glucose across the cell membrane (4-5) ;
barberry, a semi-tropical shrub containing berberine, an alkaloid which promotes glucose metabolism and helps maintain normal glycaemia (6) ;
Gymnema sylvestris, an Ayurvedic plant containing gymnemic acid, which is believed to delay the absorption of glucose into the blood, thus helping to normalise sugar metabolism (7-8).

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References

WOLEVER, T. M. The glycemic index. World review of nutrition and dietetics, 1990, vol. 62, p. 120-185.
VENN, B. J. et GREEN, T. J. Glycemic index and glycemic load: measurement issues and their effect on diet–disease relationships. European journal of clinical nutrition, 2007, vol. 61, no 1, p. S122-S131.
FOSTER-POWELL, Kaye, HOLT, Susanna HA, et BRAND-MILLER, Janette C. International table of glycemic index and glycemic load values: 2002. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 2002, vol. 76, no 1, p. 5-56.
STOHS, Sidney J., MILLER, Howard, et KAATS, Gilbert R. A review of the efficacy and safety of banaba (Lagerstroemia speciosa L.) and corosolic acid. Phytotherapy Research, 2012, vol. 26, no 3, p. 317-324.
STOHS, Sidney J., MILLER, Howard, et KAATS, Gilbert R. A review of the efficacy and safety of banaba (Lagerstroemia speciosa L.) and corosolic acid. Phytotherapy Research, 2012, vol. 26, no 3, p. 317-324.
LI, Cheng, HE, Jin-Zhi, ZHOU, Xue-Dong, et al.Berberine regulates type 2 diabetes mellitus related with insulin resistance. Zhongguo Zhong yao za zhi= Zhongguo zhongyao zazhi= China journal of Chinese materia medica, 2017, vol. 42, no 12, p. 2254-2260.
SHANMUGASUNDARAM, E. R. B., RAJESWARI, G., BASKARAN, K., et al.Use of Gymnema sylvestre leaf extract in the control of blood glucose in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 1990, vol. 30, no 3, p. 281-294.
SANEJA, Ankit, SHARMA, Chetan, ANEJA, K. R., et al.Gymnema sylvestre (Gurmar): A review. Der Pharmacia Lettre, 2010, vol. 2, no 1, p. 275-284.