Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 11/13/13.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Higher dietary acid load increases risk of diabetes, study says - Science Daily, 11/11/13 - "A western diet rich in animal products and other acidogenic foods can induce an acid load that is not compensated for by fruit and vegetables; this can cause chronic metabolic acidosis and lead to metabolic complications. Most importantly from a blood-sugar control perspective, increasing acidosis can reduce the ability of insulin to bind at appropriate receptors in the body, and reduce insulin sensitivity ... potential renal acid load (PRAL) ... In the overall population, those in the top 25% (quartile) for PRAL had a 56% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with the bottom quartile ... A diet rich in animal protein may favour net acid intake, while most fruits and vegetables form alkaline precursors that neutralise the acidity. Contrary to what is generally believed, most fruits such as peaches, apples, pears, bananas and even lemons and oranges actually reduce dietary acid load once the body has processed them" - Note:  Yogurt has a pH of 4.5 (7 is neutral).  I'm hoping that the seven potassium capsules I take per day will counter some of that.

Lowering salt intake improves heart, kidney health of chronic kidney disease patients - Science Daily, 11/7/13 - "The LowSALT CKD study represents the first blinded randomized controlled trial comparing a high vs low salt intake in people with CKD ... compared the effects of a high salt diet (180 to 200 mmol/day) vs a low salt diet (60 to 80 mmol/day) maintained for two weeks each in a random order in 20 patients with CKD. (Dietary guidelines recommend limiting sodium to less than 100 mmol -- which is 2300 mg or one teaspoon -- per day.) ... on average, low salt intake reduced excess extracellular fluid volume by 1 liter, lowered blood pressure by 10 /4 mm Hg, and halved protein excretion in the urine, without causing significant side effects ... She was particularly impressed with the 50% reduction in protein excretion in the urine. "If maintained long-term, this could reduce risk of progression to end-stage kidney disease -- where dialysis or transplant is required to survive -- by 30%."" - Note:  Some studies show low sodium diets have increased mortality but I've never seen a study that said that it was with people who already had kidney disease.

Bisphenol A Is Affecting Us at Much Lower Doses Than Previously Thought - Science Daily, 11/7/13 - "The findings are striking. When looking at the "low dose" literature as a whole, reproducible effects were seen in animals after exposure to incredibly low doses of BPA. In fact, effective doses were ten to forty times lower than the doses identified in traditional toxicology studies. Several dozen "low dose" studies show effects of BPA at doses that humans are thought to encounter in their everyday lives ... it contributes to a large range of health problems in humans, such as polycystic ovarian syndrome, immune response to allergens, behavioral problems and decreased fertility. The effects on wildlife are also widespread"

Fructose-Containing Caloric Sweeteners and Energy Efficiency - Medscape, 11/7/13 - "Epidemiological studies indicate that the consumption of fructose-containing caloric sweeteners (FCCS: mainly sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup) is associated with obesity ... We therefore reviewed the literature comparing a) diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) after ingestion of isocaloric FCCS vs glucose meals, and b) basal metabolic rate (BMR) or c) post-prandial energy expenditure after consuming a high FCCS diet for > 3 days vs basal,weight-maintenance low FCCS diet ... The higher DIT with fructose than glucose can be explained by the low energy efficiency associated with fructose metabolism ... We conclude that fructose has lower energy efficiency than glucose. Based on available studies, there is presently no hint that dietary FCCS may decrease EE"

Clear association between ACE inhibitors, acute kidney injury - Science Daily, 11/6/13 - "ACE inhibitors and related drugs known as angiotensin receptor antagonists (ARAs or 'sartans') are the second most frequently prescribed medicines in UK clinical practice, and are used to treat common conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease and kidney problems, especially in people with diabetes ... They compared the admission rates for acute kidney injury to English hospitals with the prescribing rates of ACE inhibitors and ARAs. From 2007/8 to 2010/11, there was a 52 per cent increase in acute kidney injury admissions. During this same period of time, there was an increase in the number of prescriptions for ACE inhibitors and ARAs issued by GP surgeries by 16 per cent ... The results show a clear association between the increase in prescriptions and the increase in hospital admissions" - Note:  It sounds like they call ARBs ARAs in England.  From what I've read, I don't think that kidney problem exists with telmisartan (an ARB).  See:

• Effects of angiotensin II receptor blockers on diabetic nephropathy - J Hypertens. 2009 Jul;27 Suppl 5:S15-21 - "Key beneficial effects of ARBs and ACE inhibitors throughout the kidney disease continuum are primarily explained by blood pressure lowering effects and partially by their direct blockade of angiotensin II. Recent studies have shown that telmisartan, an ARB with high lipophilicity and the longest half-life compared with other ARBs, provides benefits on markers of cardiovascular risk, that is, microalbuminuria and slowing of early-stage nephropathy"
• Telmisartan is more effective than losartan in reducing proteinuria in patients with diabetic nephropathy - Kidney Int. 2008 May 21 - "telmisartan is superior to losartan in reducing proteinuria in hypertensive patients with diabetic nephropathy, despite a similar reduction in blood pressure"
• Value of Angiotensin receptor blocker therapy in diabetes - J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich). 2011 Apr;13(4):290-5 - "There are more clinical trials investigating angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) in diabetes than any other drug class, ranging from early "prevention" trials to the treatment of individuals with advanced organ damage. In its earliest manifestations, visceral adiposity predisposes to hypertension and hyperglycemia (metabolic syndrome). In these individuals, ARB therapy delays the progression to chronic hypertension and may also delay the progression to overt diabetes. Based on the increased cardiovascular disease risk of the metabolic syndrome, which is similar to stage 1 hypertension, both lifestyle modification and ARB therapy are justifiable. ARB therapy has also been found to delay the onset of microalbuminuria and retinopathy. In established diabetic nephropathy, ARB therapy is recommended as a standard alternative to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition to reduce macroalbuminuria and delay the progression to end-stage disease. Finally, large trials in ischemic heart disease, heart failure, and stroke have demonstrated clear benefits of ARB therapy. Because ARBs have side effect rates equal to placebo and far lower than any other antihypertensive drug class, the benefit/risk ratio is highly favorable across the entire spectrum of diabetic disease. Thus, ARB therapy is a highly attractive alternative for individuals at any stage of diabetes and with any pattern of complications"
• Microalbuminuria Reduction with Telmisartan in Normotensive and Hypertensive Japanese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Post-Hoc Analysis of the Incipient to Overt: Angiotensin II Blocker, Telmisartan, Investigation on Type 2 Diabetic Nephropathy (INNOVATION) Study - Hypertens Res. 2008 Apr;31(4):657-64 - "The patients treated with either dose of telmisartan showed lower transition rates from microalbuminuria to overt nephropathy compared to the placebo group. In addition, more patients on telmisartan reverted to normoalbuminuria (UACR<30 mg/g creatinine): 15.5% of the 40 mg group, 19.6% of the 80 mg group, and 1.9% of the placebo group ... Side effects did not differ among the groups. The present study demonstrates that telmisartan prevents the progression of microalbuminuria (in some cases induces remission of albuminuria) in normotensive Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes. Telmisartan is shown to be safe and well tolerated in these patients"

Health Benefits of Wild Blueberries Abound - Science Daily, 11/6/13 - "regular long-term wild blueberry diets may help improve or prevent pathologies associated with the metabolic syndrome, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes ... According to the study, wild blueberry consumption (2 cups per day, human equivalent) for 8 weeks was shown to regulate and improve the balance between relaxing and constricting factors in the vascular wall, improving blood flow and blood pressure regulation of obese Zucker rats with metabolic syndrome ... Our recent findings reported elsewhere, documented that wild blueberries reduce chronic inflammation and improve the abnormal lipid profile and gene expression associated with the MetS" - See blueberry extract at Amazon.com.  Also Garden of Life, Radical Fruits Antioxidant Complex at Amazon.com contains blueberry extract.

Endometriosis risk linked to two pesticides - Science Daily, 11/5/13 - "women with higher exposures to two such pesticides, beta-hexachlorocyclohexane and mirex, had a 30- to 70-percent increase in endometriosis risk ... despite organochlorine pesticides being restricted in use or banned in the U.S. for the past several decades, these chemicals were detectable in the blood samples of women in our study and were associated with increased endometriosis risk ... The take-home message from our study is that persistent environmental chemicals, even those used in the past, may affect the health of the current generation of reproductive-age women with regard to a hormonally driven disease"

Microbes in the Gut Help Determine Risk of Tumors - Science Daily, 11/5/13 - "Known risk factors for developing colorectal cancer include consuming a diet rich in red meat, alcohol consumption, and chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract ... mice given the microbiota of the tumor-bearing mice had more than two times as many colon tumors as the mice given a healthy microbiota ... In all these [mouse] models the inflammation is critical, but so is the change in the communities ... We liken it to a feed-forward type mechanism where the inflammation is changing the community and the community is inducing inflammation. They make each other worse to the point that you have higher rates of tumor formation" -  See probiotic products at Amazon.com.

Intestinal Bacteria Linked to Rheumatoid Arthritis - Science Daily, 11/5/13 - "add to the growing evidence that the trillions of microbes in our body play an important role in regulating our health ... the researchers found that P. copri was more abundant in patients newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis than in healthy individuals or patients with chronic, treated rheumatoid arthritis. Moreover, the overgrowth of P. copri was associated with fewer beneficial gut bacteria belonging to the genera Bacteroides" - Note:  It's one more thing to think about when you ask your doctor for antibiotics for that sore throat or cold. See probiotic products at Amazon.com.

• Too Many Antibiotics Still Prescribed for Sore Throats, Bronchitis: Studies - WebMD, 10/3/13 - "Antibiotics only work against bacterial infections, and yet they are prescribed at a rate of 60 percent for sore throats and 73 percent for bronchitis, conditions that are typically caused by viruses ... There's plenty of blame to go around ... It's a lot easier to write a prescription than to have a five-minute conversation about why antibiotics aren't necessary ... The vast majority of sore throats, and virtually all of bronchitis [cases], get better on its own ... This leads to more antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and when we do that we don't have the antibiotics when we need them because the body has developed resistance ... There is concern about antibiotic overuse causing super bugs and things we are not going to be able to treat down the line ... I think what's missing from the conversation is the fact that we are prescribing and people are taking a medicine that has nearly a zero chance of helping them and a very real chance of hurting them"
• Probiotics Prevent Diarrhea Related to Antibiotic Use, Review Shows - Science Daily, 5/30/13 - "Antibiotics disturb the beneficial bacteria that live in the gut and allow other harmful bacteria like C. difficile to take hold. Although some people infected with C. difficile show no symptoms, others suffer diarrhea or colitis. The so-called "good bacteria" or yeast in probiotic foods and supplements may offer a safe, low-cost way to help prevent C. difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD). This finding is important because CDAD is expensive to treat ... Probiotics taken in conjunction with antibiotics reduced the number of people who suffered diarrhea by 64%"
• Antibiotics Take Toll On Beneficial Microbes In Gut - Science Daily, 6/18/09 - "Normally, a set of thousands of different kinds of microbes lives in the gut – a distinctive mix for each person, and thought to be passed on from mother to baby. The microbes, including many different bacteria, aid digestion and nutrition, appear to help maintain a healthy immune system, and keep order when harmful microbes invade ... Mice, which normally develop a diverse set of microbes after being born without one, then were given either cefoperazone, a broad-spectrum cephalosporin antibiotic, or a combination of three antibiotics (amoxicillin, bismuth and metronidazole) ... Both antibiotic treatments caused significant changes in the gut microbial community. However, in the mice given cefoperazone, there was no recovery of normal diversity. In other mice given the amoxicillin-containing combination, the microbiota largely recovered, but not completely ... Probiotics may be part of the solution, but we don’t know that yet"

Abstracts from this week's Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics plus abstracts from my RSS feeds (Click here for the journals, the PubMed ones at the top):

Long-Term Coffee Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review and a Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies - Circulation. 2013 Nov 7 - "A non-linear association between coffee consumption with CVD risk was observed in this meta-analysis. Moderate coffee consumption was inversely significantly associated with CVD risk, with the lowest CVD risk at 3 to 5 cups/d, and heavy coffee consumption was not associated with elevated CVD risk"

A systematic review and meta-analysis of dietary patterns and depression in community-dwelling adults - Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Nov 6 - "Six electronic databases were searched for articles published up to August 2013 ... high intakes of fruit, vegetables, fish, and whole grains may be associated with a reduced depression risk"

Antioxidant vitamins and magnesium and the risk of hearing loss in the US general population - Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Nov 6 - "The protective effects of antioxidant vitamins on hearing loss are well established in animal studies but in few human studies. Recent animal studies suggest that magnesium intake along with antioxidants may act in synergy to prevent hearing loss ... analyzed cross-sectional data from 2592 participants aged 20-69 y from NHANES 2001-2004 ... Dietary intakes of antioxidants and magnesium are associated with lower risks of hearing loss" - See Garden of Life, Radical Fruits Antioxidant Complex at Amazon.com and Jarrow Formulas, MagMind at Amazon.com.

Dietary protein and plasma total homocysteine, cysteine concentrations in coronary angiographic subjects - Nutr J. 2013 Nov 7;12(1):144 - "High animal-protein diet was positively associated with high tHcy concentrations, whereas high plant-protein diet was inversely associated with tHcy concentrations. Furthermore the total protein intake was strongly related to tCys concentrations"

Metformin Inhibits Skin Tumor Promotion in Overweight and Obese Mice - Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2013 Nov 6 - "Collectively, the current data demonstrate that metformin given in the drinking water effectively inhibited skin tumor promotion in both overweight and obese mice" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.

Fatty Acid and Phytosterol Content of Commercial Saw Palmetto Supplements - Nutrients 2013, 5(9), 3617-3633 - "The variation in the efficacy in these trials may be a result of differences in the putative active components, fatty acids and phytosterols, of the saw palmetto supplements ... Liquid saw palmetto supplements contained significantly higher (p < 0.05) concentrations of total fatty acids (908.5 mg/g), individual fatty acids, total phytosterols (2.04 mg/g), and individual phytosterols, than the other supplement categories. Powders contained significantly higher (p < 0.05) concentrations of total fatty acids than tinctures, which contain negligible amounts of fatty acids (46.3 mg/g) and phytosterols (0.10 mg/g). Our findings suggest that liquid saw palmetto supplements may be the best choice for individuals who want to take a saw palmetto supplement with the highest concentrations of both fatty acids and phytosterols" - Note:  See the table.  It was a no contest.  According to Nutra USA, Doctor's Best had the highest fatty acid content of the products tested.  See Doctor's Best Saw Palmetto at Amazon.com.

Effects of dietary supplementation with fish oil on dry eye syndrome subjects: randomized controlled trial - Biomed Res. 2013;34(5):215-20 - "Twenty-seven typical dry eye subjects were selected from 43 candidates by the diagnostic criterion for dry eye in this study. They were assigned to the randomized fish oil group (n = 15) or the placebo group (n = 12). Fish oil group ingested fish oil capsules containing eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 1245 mg/day) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 540 mg/day) for 12 weeks ... The subjective symptom of "eye pain", BUT, and changes in rose bengal staining score of the fish oil group were significantly improved after 8-12 weeks of supplementation and/or 4 weeks of washout, compared to those of the placebo group. These results suggest that fish oil supplementation added to usual care may be effective in the treatment of dry eye" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Melatonin prevents gentamicin-induced testicular toxicity and oxidative stress in rats - Andrologia. 2013 Nov 4 - "This study investigated the protective effects of melatonin (MT) against gentamicin (GM)-induced testicular toxicity and oxidative damage in rats ... These results indicate that MT prevents testicular toxicity induced by GM in rats, presumably due to its potent antioxidant activity, and its ability to inhibit lipid peroxidation, and restore antioxidant enzyme activity" - See melatonin at Amazon.com.

Maternal Vitamin D Status During Pregnancy and Bone Mass in Offspring at 20 Years of Age: A Prospective Cohort Study - J Bone Miner Res. 2013 Nov 5 - "investigated the association between maternal vitamin D status and peak bone mass of offspring in 341 mother and offspring pairs in the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study ... Outcomes were total body bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry in offspring at 20 years of age ... Maternal vitamin D deficiency was associated with 2.7% lower total body BMC (mean +/- SE: 2846 +/- 20 vs 2924 +/- 16 g, P = 0.004) and 1.7% lower total body BMD (1053 +/- 7 vs 1071 +/- 5 mg/cm2 , P = 0.043) in the offspring. We conclude that vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women is associated with lower peak bone mass in their children. This may increase fracture risk in the offspring in later life" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Use of Statins and the Risk of Death in Patients With Prostate Cancer - J Clin Oncol. 2013 Nov 4 - "Postdiagnostic use of statins was associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer mortality (HR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.66 to 0.88) and all-cause mortality (HR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.95). These decreased risks of prostate cancer mortality and all-cause mortality were more pronounced in patients who also used statins before diagnosis (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.41 to 0.74; and HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81, respectively), with weaker effects in patients who initiated the treatment only after diagnosis (HR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.71 to 0.96; and HR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.82 to 1.01, respectively)"

Health Focus (Glycemic Index/Glycemic Load):

News & Research:

• Drop the cookie: Sweet, starchy foods 'probably' cause women’s cancer - today.com, 9/10/13 - "AICR now estimates that most cases of endometrial cancer (59 percent, or about 29,500 every year) could be prevented in the U.S. if women were active for at least 30 minutes a day and maintained a healthy body weight ... Estrogen is one known cause and women who take hormones, as in hormone replacement therapy, are usually given a form of progesterone, also, to protect against endometrial cancer ... Women who are obese have two to three times the rate of endometrial cancer .. There were eight studies showing coffee lowers the risk ... The team also found at least six studies that indicate glycemic load affects the risk ... The bottom line is you want to eat whole grains instead of refined grains and sugary foods"
• Excess sugar linked to cancer - Science Daily, 2/1/13 - "Dr Garcia Jimenez's laboratory was studying how cells in the intestine respond to sugars and signal to the pancreas to release insulin, the key hormone that controls blood sugar levels. Sugars in the intestine trigger cells to release a hormone called GIP that enhances insulin release by the pancreas ... the ability of the intestinal cells to secrete GIP is controlled by a protein called β-catenin, and that the activity of β-catenin is strictly dependent on sugar levels ... high (but not normal) sugar levels induce nuclear accumulation of β-catenin and leads to cell proliferation"
• Starchy, high carbohydrate diet associated with recurrence of colon cancer - Science Daily, 11/7/12 - "Recent studies have shown that colorectal cancer survivors whose diet and activity patterns lead to excess amounts of insulin in the blood have a higher risk of cancer recurrence and death from the disease. High insulin levels can be produced by eating too many starchy and sugar-laden foods ... They found that participants with the highest dietary levels of glycemic load and carbohydrate intake had an 80 percent increased risk of colon cancer recurrence or death compared with those who had the lowest levels ... we theorize that factors including a high glycemic load may stimulate the body's production of insulin"
• Good news about the glycemic index of rice - Science Daily, 7/9/12 - "Research analyzing 235 types of rice from around the world has found its glycemic index (GI) varies from one type of rice to another with most varieties scoring a low to medium GI ... The study found that the GI of rice ranges from a low of 48 to a high of 92, with an average of 64 ... Rice varieties like India's most widely grown rice variety, Swarna, have a low GI and varieties like Doongara and Basmati from Australia have a medium GI ... Low GI diets can reduce the likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes, and are also useful for helping diabetics better manage their condition ... Low GI foods are those measured 55 and less, medium GI are those measured between 56 and 69, while high GI measures 70 and above"
• Glycemic index foods at breakfast can control blood sugar throughout the day - Science Daily, 3/30/12 - "Mattes' research specifically focused on the advantages of having almonds, a low glycemic index food, with the morning meal. In his study, published last year in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, participants who ate a breakfast containing whole almonds experienced longer feelings of fullness and had lower blood glucose concentrations after breakfast and lunch, compared to those who did not have a low-glycemic breakfast"
• A diet rich in slowly digested carbs reduces markers of inflammation in overweight and obese adults - Science Daily, 1/11/12 - "Among overweight and obese adults, a diet rich in slowly digested carbohydrates, such as whole grains, legumes and other high-fiber foods, significantly reduces markers of inflammation associated with chronic disease ... a low-glycemic-load diet reduced a biomarker of inflammation called C-reactive protein by about 22 percent ... C-reactive protein is associated with an increased risk for many cancers as well as cardiovascular disease ... a low-glycemic-load diet modestly increased -- by about 5 percent -- blood levels of a protein hormone called adiponectin ... a low-glycemic-load diet modestly increased -- by about 5 percent -- blood levels of a protein hormone called adiponectin. This hormone plays a key role in protecting against several cancers, including breast cancer, as well as metabolic disorders such as type-2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and hardening of the arteries"
• AMD-like lesions delayed in mice fed lower glycemic index diet - Science Daily, 11/14/11 - "The dietary glycemic index (DGI) measures the rate at which glucose is delivered to the bloodstream after consuming carbohydrates. Higher GI foods including white bread and white potatoes trigger a rapid delivery of glucose that pushes the body to work overtime to absorb, whereas lower GI foods, like whole grain bread and fruits and vegetables, initiate a slower release of glucose that is more easily processed by cells ... Compared to the mice on the lower GI diet, mice on the higher GI diet demonstrated elevated accumulations of debris known as advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in the whole retina, particularly in the cells of the RPE. The RPE plays a crucial role in maintaining vision and its dysfunction results in the gradual central vision loss that is the hallmark of AMD. AGE accumulation has also been linked to tissue damage in other age-related diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease"
• Eating the Wrong Kind of Carbohydrates Increases Heart Disease Risk - U.S. News and World Report, 4/12/10 - "women who ate the most "high-glycemic" carbohydrates—which cause quick spikes in blood sugar levels—had more than twice the risk of having heart disease as those who ate the least. (The study didn't find the same association in men.) What's interesting, though, is that it was the type of carbs, not the amount, that had the health impact. "High consumption of carbohydrate from high-glycemic foods, rather than overall quantity of carbohydrate consumed, appears to influence the risk of developing heart disease in women,""
• High Carbohydrate Foods Can Cause Heart Attacks - Science Daily, 6/25/09 - "Doctors have known for decades that foods like white bread and corn flakes aren't good for cardiac health ... foods with a high glycemic index distended brachial arteries for several hours ... Enormous peaks indicating arterial stress were found in the high glycemic index groups: the cornflakes and sugar group ... During the consumption of foods high in sugar, there appears to be a temporary and sudden dysfunction in the endothelial walls of the arteries ... Endothelial health can be traced back to almost every disorder and disease in the body. It is "the riskiest of the risk factors,""
• Low Glycemic Breakfast May Increase Benefits Of Working Out - Science Daily, 4/15/09 - "Overall, fat oxidation was higher in the LGI treatment than in the HGI treatment (P < 0.05) during the post-breakfast and exercise periods. Following lunch, fullness scores were higher in the LGI trial than in the HGI trial (P < 0.05). The authors concluded that consuming a LGI breakfast increases fat oxidation during subsequent exercise and improved satiety during recovery in sedentary females. As such, individuals trying to shed fat may consider choosing LGI foods eaten prior to when they exercise"
• Scientists Discover Why A Low GI Meal Makes You Feel Full - Science Daily, 3/18/09 - "Eating a meal with a low GI (glycaemic index) increases gut hormone production which leads to suppression of appetite and the feeling of fullness"
• Low Glycemic Diets Help Diabetics Control Blood Sugar, Review Suggests - Science Daily, 1/2/0/09 - "Clinicians measured hemoglobin A1c levels, which give a picture of a person's blood glucose control over several weeks or months. The reviewers found that levels decreased by 0.5 percent with a low GI diet, noting that the findings were significant, both statistically and clinically"
• Glycemic Stability May Be Important Key To Recovery From Critical Illness - Science Daily, 5/20/08 - "We found that patients with wide fluctuation were significantly more likely to die in the intensive care unit and the hospital than those who experience low glycemic variability"
• Dietary Strategies for Improving Post-Prandial Glucose, Lipids, and More - Medscape, 1/29/08 - "The amount and type of carbohydrate consumed with a meal is a major determinant of the post-prandial glucose excursion.[21] The glycemic index of a food is defined as the incremental increase in the area under the post-prandial glucose curve after ingestion of 50 g of a specific food compared with that noted after ingestion of 50 g of oral glucose. A meal such as white bread and jelly with a glycemic index of 80 will result in a 2-fold higher incremental increase in glucose compared with an isocaloric meal of whole-grain bread and peanut butter with a glycemic index of 40. Most studies show that diets rich in high-glycemic-index, low-fiber foods independently increase the risk of both CV disease and type 2 diabetes ... Excess intake of processed carbohydrates sets up a vicious cycle whereby the transient spikes in blood glucose and insulin early after a meal trigger reactive hypoglycemia and hunger.[25] The chronic consumption of a diet high in processed carbohydrates leads to excess visceral fat, which increases both insulin resistance and inflammation and predisposes to diabetes, hypertension, and CV disease.[25] In contrast, restriction of refined carbohydrates will improve the post-prandial levels of both glucose and triglycerides and can reduce intra-abdominal fat, particularly in individuals with insulin resistance ... Recent studies show that 1 to 2 tablespoons of vinegar, when added to a meal containing high-glycemic-index foods such as white bread or white rice, will both: 1) lower post-prandial glucose by 25% to 35% (Fig. 5), and 2) increase post-meal satiety by more than 2-fold.[32] Thus the addition of vinegar to a standard meal can not only improve the meal-induced oxidant stress by blunting the post-prandial glucose excursion, but also can increase and prolong satiety, which should help to reduce food cravings and lower caloric intake over the subsequent 2 to 4 h" - See apple cider vinegar at Amazon.com - 4.5 tablets equals about 3 tablespoons by my calculations.  I've been popping 4 of these with meals for years and more and more research keeps backing me up.    If 1 to 2 tablespoons is correct you could get by with just two tablets.
• Sugar and Alzheimer's: Are They Linked? - WebMD, 12/7/07 - "The brains of the sugar-fed mice had about twice as many plaque deposits as the mice fed regular water"
• Diets With High Glycemic Index May Raise Cataract Risk - Medscape, 11/30/07 - "Glycemic load, a food's glycemic index multiplied by the total available carbohydrate content, was used to gauge both carbohydrate quantity and quality ... each standard deviation increase in dietary glycemic index was associated with a 19% increase in the risk of cortical cataract. Subjects in the highest glycemic index quartile were 77% more likely to develop cataract than those in the lowest quartile"
• High-Carb Diet, Bigger Prostate Tumor? - WebMD, 11/27/07
• High Carb Diet Linked to Prostate Tumor Growth - Science Daily, 11/27/07 - "A diet high in refined carbohydrates, like white rice or white bread, is associated with increased prostate tumor growth in mice ... Having too much insulin in the blood, a condition called hyperinsulinemia, is associated with poorer outcomes in patients with prostate cancer"
• High-glycemic Index Carbohydrates Associated With Risk For Developing Type 2 Diabetes In Women - Science Daily, 11/26/07 - "Our results indicate that black women can reduce their risk of diabetes by eating a diet that is high in cereal fiber ... In another study ... Women who consumed more carbohydrates overall were more likely to develop diabetes--when they were split into five groups based on carbohydrate intake, those in the group consuming the most (about 337.6 grams per day) had a 28 percent higher risk than those in the group consuming the least (about 263.5 grams per day). Women who ate diets with a higher glycemic index and who ate more staples such as bread, noodles and rice specifically also had an increased risk. Women who ate 300 grams or more of rice per day were 78 percent more likely to develop diabetes than those who ate less than 200 grams per day"
• Limiting Refined Carbohydrates May Stall AMD Progression - Science Daily, 10/8/07 - "Our data showed those people in the high-glycemic-index group were at greater risk of AMD progression, especially those already in the late stages ... Participants who consumed the most refined carbohydrates were 17 percent more likely to develop blinding AMD than the group that consumed the least"
• Food for Thought: Fattening Carbs—Some Promote Obesity and Worse - Science News, 9/29/07 - "In the study, mice that chowed down on a type of rapidly digestible starch didn't gain any more weight than did animals eating a starch that digests slowly. But the first group did accumulate lots of excess fat"
• Quick-burning Carbs May Cause Fatty Liver: Low-glycemic Diet Protected Mice - Science Daily, 9/21/07 - "After six months, the mice weighed the same. However, mice on the low-glycemic index diet were lean, with normal amounts of fat in throughout their bodies. Mice on the high-glycemic index diet had twice the normal amount of fat in their bodies, blood and livers"
• Starchy diet 'may damage liver' - BBC News, 9/21/07 - ""High-glycaemic" foods - rapidly digested by the body - could be causing "fatty liver", increasing the risk of serious illness ... After six months on the diet, the mice weighed the same, but those on the high GI diet had twice the normal amount of fat in their bodies, blood and livers"
• Sugary Drinks, Not Fruit Juice, May Be Linked To Insulin - Science Daily, 9/5/07 - "Study participants who consumed two or more sugar-sweetened beverages per day had significantly higher fasting blood levels of insulin as compared to participants who did not report consuming any such beverages, regardless of age, sex, weight, smoking status, or other dietary habits ... Higher fasting levels of insulin mean these study participants are more at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes ... consumption of 100 percent fruit juice was not significantly related to any of our measures of insulin resistance"
• Right Breakfast Bread Keeps Blood Sugar In Check All Day - Science Daily, 9/5/07 - "It is known that a carbohydrate-rich breakfast with low GI can moderate increases in blood sugar after lunch. But my results show that low GI in combination with the right amount of so-called indigestible carbohydrates, that is, dietary fiber and resistant starch, can keep the blood-sugar level low for up to ten hours, which means until after dinner ... people with great fluctuations in their levels of blood sugar run a greater risk of having a generally lower cognitive ability"
• Study links low-GI kids' breakfast to less calories - Nutra USA, 9/4/07 - "The children ate on average 61 kcal less over the days they were given the low-GI breakfast, compared with the days when they ate a high-GI breakfast"
• Dietary Glycemic Index Tied to Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration - Medscape, 7/30/07
• High-Sugar Foods May Affect Eyesight - WebMD, 7/13/07 - "People with the diets highest on the glycemic index were the most likely to have advanced AMD in at least one eye"
• Link Between Carbohydrate Quality And Vision Loss Is Strengthened By New Data - Science Daily, 7/11/07 - "the risk for AMD may be diminished by improving dietary carbohydrate quality, as defined by dietary glycemic index. This may be achieved by relatively simple dietary alterations, such as replacing white bread with whole grain bread"
• Low-Glycemic Load Diet May Work for Dieters With Certain Insulin Response Patterns - Science Daily, 5/16/07
• Biology Dictates Diet Success - WebMD, 5/15/07 - "The low-glycemic-load diet was effective for a lot of the individuals who were high-insulin secretors and who previously had challenges losing weight and keeping it off"
• Low-Glycemic-Index Diet Slows AMD Progression - Medscape, 5/8/07 - "age-related macular degeneration (AMD) ... consumption of highly refined carbohydrates can lead to up to a 17% increased risk of AMD progression"
• Study Examines Calorie Restriction and Glycemic Load - Doctor's Guide, 4/10/07 - "Unlike several other long-term studies, which have reported greater weight loss with low GL diets at six months but no differences by 12 months, our data show no significant short-term or long-term differences"
• Low glycemic diet may help stay slim - MSNBC, 10/27/06 - "normal-weight women who ate a diet with a relatively high glycemic index gained more weight, more fat, and more padding around the middle over a six-year period than women who ate a low glycemic index diet"
• High Bread Consumption Linked To Higher Risk Of Most Common Kidney Cancer - Science Daily, 10/20/06 - "A significant direct association was observed for bread consumption (OR=1.94) for the highest compared to the lowest quintile of intake ... By contrast, decreasing risk was associated with increasing intake of poultry, processed meat, and all vegetables, both raw and cooked ... The association between elevated cereal intake (bread, pasta and rice) "may be due to the high glycemic index of these foods"
• Low Glycemic Index Diet Best For Weight Loss And Cardiovascular Health - Science Daily, 7/26/06
• High Carb, Low Glycemic Index Diet Best to Reduce CV Risk - Medscape, 7/25/06
• What Is the Glycemic Index? - Dr. Weil, 6/23/06
• Loss of Central Vision with Age May Be Linked to Quality of Dietary Carbohydrates - Doctor's Guide, 6/6/06 - "Women who consumed diets with a relatively high dietary glycemic index had greater risk of developing signs of early age-related macular degeneration when compared with women who consumed diets with a lower dietary glycemic index"
• High Glycemic Index Diet May Increase Risk of Developing AMD - Medscape, 4/18/06 - "The age-adjusted model showed more than a 2-fold increase in risk for ARM for the third tertile of dietary GI"
• The science of blood sugar - .ffnmag.com, 2/06
• Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load of Popular Diets - Medscape, 1/24/06 - "The impact of GI and GL on efforts to prevent and treat obesity remains to be determined"
• Carbohydrate-rich diets may improve insulin control - Nutra USA, 1/11/06 - "Although an increasing body of evidence would suggest merit in adopting high-carbohydrate, low-GI diets, the charge that high-GI diets result in insulin resistance is unproven on the basis of current experimental data"
• Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study - Diabetes Care. 2005;28(12):2832-2838 - "our results demonstrate a remarkable degree of consistency in finding a lack of association of glycemic index, glycemic load, and carbohydrate intake with measures of insulin sensitivity, insulin secretion, and adiposity"
• Low-Glycemic Load Diet Facilitates Weight Loss in Overweight Adults with High Insulin Secretion - Doctor's Guide, 12/7/05 - "The regulation of body weight is, at least in part, influenced by how much insulin a person secretes in response to a load of glucose, as well as by how sensitive that person is to insulin's glucose-lowering effects"
• Reducing GI does not boost effects of low-calorie diet - Nutra USA, 10/26/05 - "although the new trial confirmed the benefit of lowering glycaemic index on insulin sensitivity, it did not impact the subjects' weight"
• High Glycemic Index or High Carbohydrate Diet May Not Increase Risk of Insulin Resistance - Medscape, 6/6/05 - "Habitual intake of diets with a high glycemic index and high glycemic load or diets with a high content of total carbohydrate including simple sugars was not associated with the probability of having insulin resistance ... intake of dietary fiber was inversely associated with the probability of having insulin resistance"
• Weight Watchers Diet Produces Same Results With or Without Emphasis on Low-Glycaemic Index - Doctor's Guide, 6/6/05 - "both groups lost an average of 5% of their initial body weight ... However, those who followed the low-glycemic diet had better satiety and less hunger and craving, the key problems that are the downfall of many dieters" - This article doesn't mention fat loss.  You can have the same loss in pounds yet have different percentages of lean muscle/fat loss as in the next article.
• Clearing up the confusion over carbs - MSNBC, 6/3/05 - "Both groups lost weight, and there was no difference in their weight loss or calorie intake. It should be noted, however, that the women who ate low GI foods lost more than twice as much body fat as women eating mainly high GI foods"
• Healthy Carbs, Fats for Weight Loss - WebMD, 11/23/04 - "eating a so-called low-glycemic diet may overcome the body's natural tendency to slow metabolism when calories are restricted. A low-glycemic diet emphasizes healthy fats and carbohydrates"
• The glycaemic index: a route to better health? - Functional Foods & Nutraceuticals, 10/04
• GI diet gets health boost - Nutra USA, 8/30/04
• Sick of Low-Carb Diets? Try Low-GI - WebMD, 8/26/04 - "The animals on the high-GI diet were gaining more weight with same amount of food, and we had to cut their food back increasingly over time to keep them at the same weight ... But what was really interesting to us was that even though they maintained the same weight because they got less food, the high-GI group in both rats and mice doubled their body fat and had a reduction ... in muscle mass, which is exactly what you don't want"
• High-Glycemic Foods Linked to Colon Cancer - WebMD, 2/3/04 - "the future risk of colorectal cancers is nearly three times higher in women who eat the most high glycemic-load foods compared with those who eat lesser amounts"
• Sugary Breakfast Boosts Lunchtime Hunger - WebMD, 11/3/03 - "A new study provides evidence favoring foods with low-glycemic indexes (GI) such as whole-grain breakfast cereals including oatmeal, bran cereal, and muesli (a Swedish tradition). It shows that foods with low GI's can keep us feeling full and that these foods may have an important role in weight loss and obesity management"
• Focusing on Fiber? - Dr. Weil, 9/22/03 - "If you’ve tried but failed to lower your cholesterol with a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet, the problem may have been the carbohydrates you were eating. Refined carbohydrates (those that are high on the glycemic index, a system of ranking foods by their effect on blood sugar) can cause rapid increases in blood sugar, prompting the pancreas to release insulin, which in turn signals the liver to pump more triglycerides into the bloodstream"
• Dietary Experts Debate Carbohydrates - Intelihealth, 9/2/03 - "Blood sugar levels may shoot twice as high after a high-GI meal as after a low one, and that unleashes metabolic havoc: The body responds with a surge of insulin, which prompts it to quickly store the sugar in muscle and fat cells. The high sugar also inhibits another hormone, glucagon, which ordinarily tells the body to burn its stored fuel ... Blood sugar plunges. So much is stored so fast that within two or three hours, levels may be lower than they were before the meal. Suddenly, the body needs more fuel. But because glucagon is still in short supply, the body does not tap into its fat supply for energy. The inevitable result? Hunger ... After one year, the low-GI volunteers had dropped seven pounds of pure fat. The others had put on four"
• Glycemic Index: New Way to Count Carbs? - WebMD, 8/20/03 - "Foods with a high glycemic index (and therefore a higher number) cause a sudden and drastic jump in blood sugar levels. Low-glycemic foods are more easily absorbed in the body and raise blood sugar more gradually ... The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition lists any food under 55 as a low-glycemic food and any food more than 70 as high glycemic"
• New Diet Approach May Fight Child Obesity - WebMD, 8/12/03 - "a reduced-glycemic-load diet that emphasizes foods with a low to moderate glycemic index and allows children to eat until they're full was more effective than a traditional low-fat, calorie-restricted diet in helping obese children shed pounds and slow the progression of insulin resistance, a risk factor for diabetes ... Complex carbohydrates, such as whole-grain bread and cereals, brown rice, and vegetables, are foods with a low to moderate glycemic index"
• Ways Of Reducing Glycaemic Load Vary In Effects - Doctor's Guide, 3/10/03
• Cardiovascular Risk Factors Affected By Diet -  Doctor's Guide, 2/27/03 - "Although patients were advised to maintain an identical energy intake with the different diets, there was significant weight loss on the low glycaemic index diet compared with weight gain on the high sucrose diet"
• What is hyperinsulimia? How is it controlled? What are the tests? What is Glucophage? - Dr. Weil, 9/3/02 - "People with the genetic tendency to develop metabolic syndrome can avoid it by getting regular exercise and by minimizing consumption of high-glycemic index carbohydrate foods"
• Cracking the Fat Riddle - Time Magazine, 9/2/02 - "the food pyramid is due for an overhaul in 2003—although no one is yet willing to give any details. If Harvard's Willett has his way, the pyramid will make a greater distinction between the types of fats and carbs we should and shouldn't eat. Willett, unlike the USDA, does not lump most carbohydrates at the pyramid's base or all fats at the pyramid's eat-sparingly pinnacle. In fact, Willett places good fats—those from vegetables and fish—at the base and good carbohydrates—from whole-grain versions of bread and pasta—side by side at the base. Carbohydrates with a high glycemic load join saturated fats at the top"
• Low Glycaemic Index Diet Might Prevent Metabolic Diseases - Doctor's Guide, 5/16/02
• Glycemic Index Helpful in Food Selection - Medscape, 5/8/02 - "11 healthy men were randomly allocated to 5 weeks of a low- or high-glycemic index (LGI or HGI) diet separated by a 5-week washout period in a crossover design. Compared with the HGI diet, the LGI diet resulted in lower postprandial plasma glucose and insulin profiles and areas under the curve, lower plasma triacylglycerol excursion after lunch, decreased total fat mass by approximately 700 g, and a tendency to increase lean body mass without changing body weight. Decreased leptin, lipoprotein lipase, and hormone-sensitive lipase mRNA quantities in the subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue accompanied decreased fat mass"
• Glycemic Index, Glycemic Load And Certain Foods Linked To Breast Cancer - Doctor's Guide, 12/17/01 - "Consumption of foods that are associated with a high glycemic index, such as white bread, increased breast cancer risk: odds ratio 1.3. In contrast, pasta, which is associated with a medium glycemic index, did not seem to influence breast cancer risk: odds ratio 1.0 ... glycemic index and glycemic load show "moderate, direct associations" with breast cancer risk. This suggests that hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance might contribute to the risk of developing breast cancer"

Abstracts:

• Associations of dietary glycaemic index and glycaemic load with food and nutrient intake and general and central obesity in British adults - Br J Nutr. 2013 May 9:1-11 - "In conclusion, we found independent positive associations of dietary GI and GL with general and central obesity in British adults"
• Is there a dose-response relation of dietary glycemic load to risk of type 2 diabetes? Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies - Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Jan 30 - "24 prospective cohort studies identified by August 2012 ... the GL was positively associated with RR of T2D of 1.45 (95% CI: 1.31, 1.61) for a 100-g increment in GL ... After we accounted for several sources of heterogeneity, findings from prospective cohort studies that related the GL to T2D appear robust and consistently indicate strong and significantly lower T2D risk in persons who consume lower-GL diets"
• Habitually Higher Dietary Glycemic Index During Puberty Is Prospectively Related to Increased Risk Markers of Type 2 Diabetes in Younger Adulthood - Diabetes Care. 2013 Jan 24 - "A higher dietary GI was prospectively related to greater values of HOMA-IR (P(trend) = 0.03), ALT (P(trend) = 0.02), and GGT (P(trend) = 0.04). After adjustment for sex, adult age, baseline BMI, and early life and socioeconomic factors as well as protein and fiber intake, predicted mean HOMA-IR values in energy-adjusted tertiles of GI were 2.37 (95% CI 2.16-2.60), 2.47 (2.26-2.71), and 2.59 (2.35-2.85). The amount of carbohydrates, GL, and added sugar, fiber, and whole-grain intake were not related to the analyzed markers ... Our data indicate that a habitually higher dietary GI during puberty may adversely affect risk markers of type 2 diabetes in younger adulthood"
• Glycaemic index and glycaemic load in relation to risk of diabetes-related cancers: a meta-analysis - Br J Nutr. 2012 Oct 18:1-14 - "Diets high in glycaemic index (GI) or glycaemic load (GL) have been hypothesised to increase the risks of certain cancers by increasing blood glucose or insulin concentrations ... We searched Pubmed, EMBASE and MEDLINE databases up to September 2011 and reference lists of relevant articles ... In a comparison of the highest and lowest categories, the pooled RR of DRC were 1.07 (95 % CI 1.04, 1.11; n 30) for GI and 1.02 (95 % CI 0.96, 1.08; n 33) for GL. In an analysis of site-specific cancer risks, we found significant associations for GI in relation to breast cancer (RR 1.06; 95 % CI 1.02, 1.11; n 11) and colorectal cancer (RR 1.08; 95 % CI 1.00, 1.17; n 9 studies). GL was significantly associated with the risk of endometrial cancer (RR 1.21; 95 % CI 1.07, 1.37; n 5). In conclusion, the findings of the present study suggest a modest-to-weak association between a diet that induces a high glucose response and DRC risks"
• Dietary glycemic index and glycemic load and breast cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) - Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Jul 3 - "The glycemic potential of a diet is associated with chronically elevated insulin concentrations, which may augment breast cancer (BC) risk by stimulating insulin receptor or by affecting insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I)-mediated mitogenesis. It is unclear whether this effect differs by BC phenotype ... The objective was to investigate the relation between glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL), and total carbohydrate intake with BC by using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) ... Overall GI, GL, and carbohydrates were not related to BC. Among postmenopausal women, GL and carbohydate intake were significantly associated with an increased risk of estrogen receptor-negative (ER(-)) BC when extreme quintiles (Q) were compared [multivariable HR(Q5-Q1) (95% CI) = 1.36 (1.02, 1.82; P-trend = 0.010) and HR(Q5-Q1) = 1.41 (1.05, 1.89; P-trend = 0.009), respectively]. Further stratification by progesterone receptor (PR) status showed slightly stronger associations with ER(-)/PR(-) BC [HR(Q5-Q1) (95% CI) = 1.48 (1.07, 2.05; P-trend = 0.010) for GL and HR(Q5-Q1) = 1.62 (1.15, 2.30; P-trend = 0.005) for carbohydrates]. No significant association with ER-positive BC was observed"
• Glycemic load, glycemic index and risk of cardiovascular diseases: Meta-analyses of prospective studies - Atherosclerosis. 2012 Jun 6 - "Fourteen studies were identified, involving 229,213 participants and more than 11,363 cases. The pooled RRs of CVDs risk for the highest vs lowest categories of GL and GI were 1.23 (95% CI: 1.11-1.36) and 1.13 (95% CI: 1.04-1.22) respectively. Both the risk estimates of GL and GI for women (GL: RR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.18-1.55; GI: RR = 1.19, 95% CI: 1.06-1.34) were higher than men (GL: RR = 1.10, 95% CI: 0.95-1.28; GI: RR = 1.05, 95% CI: 0.94-1.17) ... High GL and GI were associated with significant increased risk of CVDs, specifically for women"
• A Low-Glycemic Load Diet Reduces Serum C-Reactive Protein and Modestly Increases Adiponectin in Overweight and Obese Adults - J Nutr. 2011 Dec 21 - "Among participants with high-body fat mass (>32.0% for males and >25.0% for females), the low-GL diet reduced CRP (P = 0.02) and marginally increased adiponectin (P = 0.06). In conclusion, carbohydrate quality, independent of energy, is important. Dietary patterns emphasizing low-GL foods may improve the inflammatory and adipokine profiles of overweight and obese individuals"
• Effects of added PGX®, a novel functional fibre, on the glycaemic index of starchy foods - Br J Nutr. 2011 Oct 10:1-4 - "Healthy subjects (n 10) consumed glucose sugar (50 g in water × 3) and six starchy foods with a range of GI values (52-72) along with 0 (inert fibre), 2.5 or 5 g granular PGX® dissolved in 250 ml water ... PGX® significantly reduced the GI of all six foods (P < 0.001), with an average reduction of 19 % for the 2.5 g dose and 30 % for the 5 g dose, equivalent to a reducing the GI by 7 and 15 units, respectively. Consuming small quantities of the novel functional fibre PGX®, mixed with water at the start of a meal, is an effective strategy to reduce the GI of common foods" - See Natural Factors, WellBetX PGX with Mulberry, 180 Capsules at iHerb.
• Dietary glycemic index and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in middle-aged Japanese men - Metabolism. 2011 Jul 29 - "During the study, 133 participants developed diabetes. Age- and body mass index-adjusted hazard ratios across the GI quintiles were 1.00 (reference), 1.62, 1.50, 1.68, and 1.80; and those of GL were 1.00 (reference), 1.07, 1.48, 0.95, and 0.98. The hazard ratio for the highest GI quintile was significantly greater than that for the lowest quintile. The influence of GI was more pronounced in the lowest insulin resistance subgroups. GI and pancreatic B-cell function were independently associated with the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus; participants with low B-cell function and the highest tertile of GI had the highest risk of diabetes. Dietary GI is associated with the incidence of diabetes in middle-aged Japanese men. GI and B-cell function were independently associated with incidence of diabetes"
• Impact of Consumption of Vegetable, Fruit, Grain, and High Glycemic Index Foods on Aggressive Prostate Cancer Risk - Nutr Cancer. 2011 Jul 20 - "Here we further investigate such potential relationships with a case-control study of 982 men (470 more aggressive prostate cancer cases and 512 control subjects). Comparing the highest to lowest quartiles of intake, we found that increasing intakes of leafy vegetables were inversely associated with risk of aggressive prostate cancer [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.96; P trend = 0.02], as was higher consumption of high carotenoid vegetables (OR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.48, 1.04; P trend = 0.04). Conversely, increased consumption of high glycemic index foods were positively associated with risk of aggressive disease (OR = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.05, 2.57; P trend = 0.02). These results were driven by a number of specific foods within the food groups. Our findings support the hypothesis that diets high in vegetables and low in high glycemic index foods decrease risk of aggressive prostate cancer"
• Carbohydrate Nutrition Is Associated with the 5-Year Incidence of Chronic Kidney Disease - J Nutr. 2011 Jan 12 - "participants in the 4th quartile of mean dietary GI intake compared with those in the first quartile (reference) had a 55% increased likelihood of having eGFR < 60 mL⋅min(-1)⋅1.73 m(-2) [multivariable-adjusted OR = 1.55 (95% CI = 1.07-2.26); P-trend = 0.01]. After multivariable adjustment, participants in the 4th quartile of dietary cereal fiber intake compared with those in the first quartile (reference) had a 50% reduced risk of incident moderate CKD (P-trend = 0.03). Higher baseline consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor sources of carbohydrate (e.g. cookies) yielded a 3-fold higher risk of incident CKD (P-trend = 0.01). In summary, we observed a novel link between high cereal fiber intake and reduced incidence of moderate CKD and this was supported by the cross-sectional association with dietary GI. Conversely, our data suggest that higher intake of energy-dense, nutrient-poor sources of carbohydrate, potentially through acute hyperglycemia, could impair renal function"
• Effect of a low glycaemic index diet on blood glucose in women with gestational hyperglycaemia - Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2010 Nov 19 - "Diet GI on control (58, 95% CI: 56,60) was significantly higher than on low-GI (49, 95% CI: 47,51; p=0.001). Glycaemic control improved on both diets, but more postprandial glucose values were within target on low-GI (58.4% of n=1891) than control (48.7% of n=1834; p<0.001). SMBG post-breakfast was directly related to pre-pregnancy BMI in the control, but not the low-GI group (BMI*diet interaction; p=0.021). Participants accepted the study foods and were willing to consume them post-intervention ... A low-GI diet was feasible and acceptable in this sample and facilitated control of postprandial glucose. A larger study is needed to determine the effect of a low-GI diet on maternal and infant outcomes"
• Dietary Glycemic Load Is a Predictor of Age-Related Hearing Loss in Older Adults - J Nutr. 2010 Oct 6 - "Participants in the highest quartile of mean dietary GL intake compared with those in the lowest quartile had a 76% greater risk of developing incident hearing loss (P-trend = 0.04). Higher carbohydrate and sugar intakes were associated with incident hearing loss (P-trend = 0.03 and P-trend = 0.05, respectively). In summary, a high-GL diet was a predictor of incident hearing loss, as was higher intake of total carbohydrate. Hence, high postprandial glycemia might be a potential underlying biological mechanism in the development of age-related hearing loss"
• Carbohydrate quantity and quality and risk of type 2 diabetes in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Netherlands (EPIC-NL) study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Aug 4 - "glycemic load (GL), glycemic index (GI) ... During a mean follow-up of 10 y, 915 incident diabetes cases were documented. Dietary GL was associated with an increased diabetes risk after adjustment for age, sex, established diabetes risk factors, and dietary factors [hazard ratio (HR) per SD increase: 1.32; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.54; P lt 0.001]. GI tended to increase diabetes risk (HR: 1.08; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.17; P equals 0.05). Dietary fiber was inversely associated with diabetes risk (HR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.85, 0.99; P lt 0.05), whereas carbohydrate intake was associated with increased diabetes risk (HR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.32; P lt 0.05). Of the carbohydrate subtypes, only starch was related to increased diabetes risk [HR: 1.25 (1.07, 1.46), P lt 0.05]. All associations became slightly stronger after exclusion of energy misreporters. CONCLUSIONS: Diets high in GL, GI, and starch and low in fiber were associated with an increased diabetes risk. Both carbohydrate quantity and quality seem to be important factors in diabetes prevention. Energy misreporting contributed to a slight attenuation of associations"
• Reduction of Postprandial Glycemia by the Novel Viscous Polysaccharide PGX, in a Dose-Dependent Manner, Independent of Food Form - J Am Coll Nutr. 2010 Apr;29(2):92-8 - "The objective of the study therefore was to determine palatability and effectiveness of escalating doses of PGX, a novel viscous polysaccharide (NVP), in reducing postprandial glycemia when added to a liquid and a solid meal ... Addition of NVP to the meal reduced blood glucose incremental areas under the curve irrespective of dose, reaching significance at the 7.5 g dose when added to glucose (p < 0.01), and at the 5 and 7.5 g doses when added to WB + Marg (p < 0.001). The GI values of glucose with 0, 2.5, 5, or 7.5 g of NVP were (mean +/- standard error of the mean [SEM]) 100.0 +/- 0.0, 83.7 +/- 9.0, 77.7 +/- 8.2, and 72.5 +/- 5.9, respectively; the GI of the WB alone, or of WB + Marg, with 0, 2.5, 5, or 7.5 g of NVP was 71.0 +/- 0.0, 66.8 +/- 3.0, 47.5 +/- 5.9, 37.3 +/- 5.9, and 33.9 +/- 3.6, respectively. CONCLUSION: Addition of NVP to different food matrices is highly effective in lowering the glycemic index of a food in a dose-responsive manner" - See PGX at Amazon.com.
• Glycemic load, glycemic index and breast cancer risk in a prospective cohort of Swedish women - Int J Cancer. 2009 Feb 3 - "In analyses stratified by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status of the breast tumors, we observed statistically significant positive associations of carbohydrate intake, glycemic index and glycemic load with risk of ER+/PR- breast cancer; the multivariate relative risks comparing extreme quintiles were 1.34 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.93-1.94; p for trend = 0.04] for carbohydrate intake, 1.44 (95% CI = 1.06-1.97; p for trend = 0.01) for glycemic index and 1.81 (95% CI = 1.29-2.53; p for trend = 0.0008) for glycemic load. No associations were observed for ER+/PR+ or ER-/PR- breast tumors. These findings suggest that a high carbohydrate intake and diets with high glycemic index and glycemic load may increase the risk of developing ER+/PR- breast cancer"
• Glycemic Index, Retinal Vascular Caliber, and Stroke Mortality - Stroke. 2008 Oct 23 - "high glycemic index (GI) and low cereal fiber (CF) ... Persons consuming food in the highest GI tertile and lowest CF tertile had a 5-fold increased risk of stroke death ... High-GI and low-CF diets predict greater stroke mortality and wider retinal venular caliber. The association between a high-GI diet and stroke death was partly explained by GI effects on retinal venular caliber, suggesting that a high-GI diet may produce deleterious anatomic changes in the microvasculature"
• Dietary glycemic index and the risk of age-related macular degeneration - Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Oct;88(4):1104-10 - "a higher mean dietary glycemic index was associated with an increased 10-y risk of early AMD in a comparison of quartiles 1 and 4 [relative risk (RR): 1.77; 95% CI: 1.13, 2.78; P for trend = 0.03]. Conversely, a greater consumption of cereal fiber (RR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.44, 1.04; P for trend = 0.05) and breads and cereals (predominantly lower glycemic index foods such as oatmeal) (RR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.44, 1.02; P for trend = 0.03) was associated with a reduced risk of incident early AMD ... A high-glycemic-index diet is a risk factor for early AMD-the recognized precursor of sight-threatening late AMD. Low-glycemic-index foods such as oatmeal may protect against early AMD"
• Glycemic index, glycemic load, and cancer risk: a meta-analysis - Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Jun;87(6):1793-801 - "Overall, both GL and GI were significantly associated with a greater risk of colorectal (summary RR = 1.26; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.44 and RR = 1.18; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.34, respectively) and endometrial (RR = 1.36; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.62 and RR = 1.22; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.49) cancer than of breast and pancreatic cancer"
• The glycemic index and cardiovascular disease risk - Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2007 Dec;9(6):479-85 - "dietary GI and/or glycemic load independently predict cardiovascular disease, with relative risk ratios of 1.2 to 1.7 comparing highest and lowest quintiles. In randomized controlled trials in overweight subjects, diets based on low-GI carbohydrates have produced better cardiovascular-related outcomes than conventional low-fat diets. Taken together, the findings suggest that health professionals may be able to improve cardiovascular outcomes by recommending the judicious use of low- GI/glycemic load foods"
• The Canadian Trial of Carbohydrates in Diabetes (CCD), a 1-y controlled trial of low-glycemic-index dietary carbohydrate in type 2 diabetes: no effect on glycated hemoglobin but reduction in C-reactive protein - Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Jan;87(1):114-25 - "In subjects with T2DM managed by diet alone with optimal glycemic control, long-term HbA(1c) was not affected by altering the GI or the amount of dietary carbohydrate. Differences in total:HDL cholesterol among diets had disappeared by 6 mo. However, because of sustained reductions in postprandial glucose and CRP, a low-GI diet may be preferred for the dietary management of T2DM"
• Dietary glycemic index and glycemic load and the risk of type 2 diabetes in older adults - Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Jan;87(1):126-31 - "These findings do not support a relation between dietary GI or GL and the risk of type 2 diabetes in older adults"
• Glycemic Index, Glycemic Load, and Cereal Fiber Intake and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in US Black Women - Arch Intern Med. 2007 Nov 26;167(21):2304-9 - "Increasing cereal fiber in the diet may be an effective means of reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, a disease that has reached epidemic proportions in black women"
• Prospective Study of Dietary Carbohydrates, Glycemic Index, Glycemic Load, and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Middle-aged Chinese Women - Arch Intern Med. 2007 Nov 26;167(21):2310-6 - "High intake of foods with a high glycemic index and glycemic load, especially rice, the main carbohydrate-contributing food in this population, may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Chinese women"
• Dietary glycemic load, added sugars, and carbohydrates as risk factors for pancreatic cancer: the Multiethnic Cohort Study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Nov;86(5):1495-501 - "Glycemic load and added sugars were not significantly associated with pancreatic cancer risk. The risk increased with higher intakes of total sugars, fructose, and sucrose, and the association with fructose was significant when the highest and lowest quartiles were compared (relative risk: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.80; P for trend = 0.046). A significant association was found with fruit and juices intake (1.37; 1.02, 1.84; P for trend = 0.04) but not with soda intake. Statistical evidence of a significant interaction with body mass index was present only for sucrose intake (P = 0.04). A comparison of the highest and lowest quartiles of sucrose intake in overweight or obese participants gave a relative risk of 1.46 (0.95-2.25; P for trend = 0.04), but the comparison was not significant in normal-weight participants"
• Carbohydrate nutrition, glycemic index, and the 10-y incidence of cataract - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Nov;86(5):1502-8 - "poorer dietary carbohydrate quality, reflected by high GI, predicted incident cortical cataract"
• Glycemic index, glycemic load and thyroid cancer risk - Ann Oncol. 2007 Oct 19 - "Compared with the lowest tertile, the ORs in subsequent tertiles were 1.68 and 1.73 for GI, and 1.76 and 2.17 for GL. The OR for highest tertile of GI compared with lowest one was 1.70 for papillary and 1.57 for follicular thyroid cancer. The ORs for GL were 2.17 for papillary and 3.33 for follicular thyroid cancer ... Our study shows that high dietary levels of GI and GL are associated with thyroid cancer risk"
• Breakfast glycemic index affects subsequent daily energy intake in free-living healthy children - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Oct;86(4):980-987 - "At all ages, among children who consumed their next meal in the early postprandial phase (after 3-4 h), children with a lower GI(br) consumed more calories throughout the remainder of the day than did children with a higher GI(br), independent of major dietary confounders"
• Dietary glycemic index and glycemic load are associated with high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol at baseline but not with increased risk of diabetes in the Whitehall II study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Oct;86(4):988-994 - "At baseline, dietary GI and GL were associated inversely with HDL cholesterol, and GI was associated directly with triacylglycerols. Dietary GI and GL were related inversely to fasting glucose and directly to 2-h postload glucose ... The proposed protective effect of low-dietary GI and GL diets on diabetes risk could not be confirmed in this study"
• Dietary glycemic index, glycemic load, and the risk of breast cancer in an Italian prospective cohort study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Oct;86(4):1160-1166 - "The relative risk (RR) of breast cancer in the highest (versus lowest) quintiles of GI and GL was 1.57 (95% CI: 1.04, 2.36; P for trend = 0.040) and 2.53 (95% CI: 1.54, 4.16; P for trend = 0.001), respectively. Total carbohydrate intake was not associated with greater breast cancer risk, but high carbohydrate from high-GI foods was. When women were categorized by baseline menopausal status and body mass index (BMI; in kg/m(2)), the increased risk of dietary GL was confined to those who were premenopausal (RR = 3.89; 95% CI: 1.81, 8.34) and who had normal BMI (ie, <25)"
• Dietary carbohydrate and the progression of age-related macular degeneration: a prospective study from the Age-Related Eye Disease Study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Oct;86(4):1210-1218 - "The latter gives an estimate that 7.8% of new advanced AMD cases would be prevented in 5 y if people consumed the low-dGI diet"
• Glycaemic index, glycaemic load and ovarian cancer risk: a prospective cohort study - Public Health Nutr. 2007 Oct;10(10):1076-81 - "Glyacemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) .. GI and total carbohydrate and sugar intakes were not associated with ovarian cancer risk in the total cohort. GL was positively associated with a 72% increase in risk of ovarian cancer"
• Beneficial effects of a 5-week low-glycaemic index regimen on weight control and cardiovascular risk factors in overweight non-diabetic subjects - Br J Nutr. 2007 Jul 9;:1-11 - "Mean body weight decrease was significant in the LGI group ( - 1.1 (sEM 0.3) kg, P = 0.004) and was significantly greater than in the HGI group ( - 0.3 (sEM 0.2) kg, P = 0.04 between groups). Hunger sensation scales showed a trend towards a decrease in hunger sensation before lunch and dinner in the LGI group when compared with the HGI group (P = 0.09). No significant increase in insulin sensitivity was noticed. The LGI diet also decreased total cholesterol by 9.6 % (P < 0.001), LDL-cholesterol by 8.6 % (P = 0.01) and both LDL-:HDL-cholesterol ratio (10.1 %, P = 0.003) and total:HDL-cholesterol ratio (8.5 %, P = 0.001) while no significant changes were observed in the HGI group"
• Association between dietary glycemic index and age-related macular degeneration in nondiabetic participants in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Jul;86(1):180-8 - "Compared with eyes in the first quintile of dGI, eyes in the fourth and fifth quintiles had a significantly or suggestively higher risk of large drusen, geographic atrophy, and neovascularization. The multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (95% CIs) for the highest quintile were 1.42 (1.09, 1.84), 1.78 (0.81, 3.90), and 1.41 (0.95, 2.08), respectively, of which only the odds ratio for large drusen was significant. A significant positive relation between dGI and severity of AMD was also noted (P for trend < 0.001). There was a 49% increase in the risk of advanced AMD (geographic atrophy plus neovascularization) for persons with a dGI higher than the sex median"
• High dietary glycemic load and glycemic index increase risk of cardiovascular disease among middle-aged women: a population-based follow-up study - J Am Coll Cardiol. 2007 Jul 3;50(1):14-21 - "Dietary glycemic load (mean = 100; SD = 17) was associated with increased risk of CVD, adjusted for CVD risk factors and dietary variables, with a hazard ratio (HR) for the highest against lowest quartile of 1.47 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04 to 2.09; p(trend) = 0.03). Similar results were observed for dietary glycemic index with a corresponding HR of 1.33"
• Dietary glycemic index, dietary glycemic load, and cardiovascular disease in middle-aged and older Swedish men - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Jun;85(6):1521-1526 - "glycemic index (GI) and dietary glycemic load (GL) ... Dietary GI and dietary GL were not associated with ischemic cardiovascular disease or mortality, but dietary GL was associated with a greater risk of hemorrhagic stroke"
• The effect of a 12-week low glycaemic index diet on heart disease risk factors and 24 h glycaemic response in healthy middle-aged volunteers at risk of heart disease: a pilot study - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2007 Feb 21 - "only the low GI group lost weight ... This pilot study provides some evidence that consuming a low GI diet in addition to weight loss and healthy eating may reduce cardiovascular risk"
• Low-carbohydrate-diet score and the risk of coronary heart disease in women - N Engl J Med. 2006 Nov 9;355(19):1991-2002 - "During 20 years of follow-up, we documented 1994 new cases of coronary heart disease. After multivariate adjustment, the relative risk of coronary heart disease comparing highest and lowest deciles of the low-carbohydrate-diet score was 0.94 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.76 to 1.18; P for trend=0.19). The relative risk comparing highest and lowest deciles of a low-carbohydrate-diet score on the basis of the percentage of energy from carbohydrate, animal protein, and animal fat was 0.94 (95% CI, 0.74 to 1.19; P for trend=0.52), whereas the relative risk on the basis of the percentage of energy from intake of carbohydrates, vegetable protein, and vegetable fat was 0.70 (95% CI, 0.56 to 0.88; P for trend=0.002). A higher glycemic load was strongly associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (relative risk comparing highest and lowest deciles, 1.90"
• Relations of glycemic index and glycemic load with plasma oxidative stress markers - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Jul;84(1):70-6 - "Chronic consumption of high-GI foods may lead to chronically high oxidative stress. A low-GI diet, not a low-carbohydrate diet, appears to be beneficial in reducing oxidative stress"
• Glycaemic index, glycaemic load and risk of endometrial cancer: a prospective cohort study - Public Health Nutr. 2005 Oct;8(7):912-9 - "Our data suggest that diets with high glycaemic index or high glycaemic load may be associated with endometrial cancer risk overall, and particularly among obese women, premenopausal women and postmenopausal women who use hormone replacement therapy"
• Dietary Glycemic Index, Glycemic Load, Fiber, Simple Sugars, and Insulin Resistance: The Inter99 study - Diabetes Care. 2005 Jun;28(6):1397-1403 - "Habitual intake of diets with a high glycemic index and high glycemic load or diets with a high content of total carbohydrate including simple sugars was not associated with the probability of having insulin resistance. Furthermore, intake of dietary fiber was inversely associated with the probability of having insulin resistance"
• Low-fat, high-carbohydrate (low-glycaemic index) diet induces weight loss and preserves lean body mass in obese healthy subjects: results of a 24-week study - Diabetes Obes Metab. 2005 May;7(3):290-3 - "after 24 weeks the average weight loss was 8.9 kg (98.6 vs. 89.7 kg; p </= 0.0001). There was a significant 15% decrease in fat mass (42.5 vs. 36.4 kg; p </= 0.0001) and a decrease in lean body mass of 5%"
• The beneficial effect of a diet with low glycaemic index on 24 h glucose profiles in healthy young people as assessed by continuous glucose monitoring - Br J Nutr. 2005 Feb;93(2):179-82 - "The present study provides important data on how a simple adjustment to the diet can improve glucose profiles that, if sustained in the long term, would be predicted from epidemiological studies to have a favourable influence on CVD"
• Effects of a low-glycemic load diet on resting energy expenditure and heart disease risk factors during weight loss - JAMA. 2004 Nov 24;292(20):2482-90 - "Reduction in glycemic load may aid in the prevention or treatment of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus"
• Glycemic index and dietary fiber and the risk of type 2 diabetes - Diabetes Care. 2004 Nov;27(11):2701-6 - "Reducing dietary GI while maintaining a high carbohydrate intake may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. One way to achieve this would be to substitute white bread with low-GI breads"
• Meta-analysis of the health effects of using the glycaemic index in meal-planning - Br J Nutr. 2004 Sep;92(3):367-81 - "Results of the present meta-analysis support the use of the GI as a scientifically based tool to enable selection of carbohydrate-containing foods to reduce total cholesterol and to improve overall metabolic control of diabetes"
• Glycemic index and glycemic load in endometrial cancer - Int J Cancer. 2003 Jun 20;105(3):404-7 - "Our study supports the hypothesis of a direct association between GI and endometrial cancer risk"