Feedback—Your FAQs Answered

What’s the GI of …
Pappadums (Indian crisp bread)
A number of Indian breads (chapattis) have been GI tested, but not pappadums. They are traditionally made with a lentil and rice flour combo and then fried but you can microwave them (brush them with oil first). A single large Patak’s pappadum (15 cm/6 in diameter) has 4 g carbohydrate which would not have much effect on your blood glucose on its own. However, they are very more-ish. So keep portions moderate (just eat one or two) and make sure with your Indian meal you serve a lower GI rice such as Moolgiri (which carries the GI Symbol) or basmati.

Sago
Sago hasn’t been GI tested. It’s rather granular like tapioca, and described as ‘small balls or pellets of starch’. It is made from the sago palm (not cassava like tapioca) and used in starchy milk puddings like lemon sago dessert or sago pudding (which supposedly has a soothing effect if you are feeling a bit off-colour). You can substitute tapioca which has been tested and has a high GI.

Buttercup squash
Buttercup squash is a winter squash or pumpkin. It hasn’t been tested but its popular cousin butternut squash (pumpkin) has and has a low GI (51). We wrote about it in GI News in April 2007.

Your database has blueberry muffins, blueberry juice and blueberry crunch GI values, but no entries for blueberries. I guess blueberries aren’t food until you put them into something.
Blueberries, like most berries, don’t actually contain much carbohydrate, so it’s (a) hard to test their GI and (b) they won’t have much effect on your blood glucose. What we say here at GI News is make blueberries an everyday health habit if you can. Blue is good for you! As one of today’s superfoods, they are bursting with nutrition and flavour while being very low in calories and of course they are packed with antioxidants like anthocyanins – nature’s personal bodyguards that help minimise damage to cell membranes that occurs with ageing. Most blueberries you buy in the supermarket or fresh produce store will be cultivated highbush blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum L). In the US, it’s also possible to buy frozen wild blueberries (V. angustifolium), all year long and they have been tested (GI 53). Wild blueberries are smaller, about one-third the size of cultivated and have a more intense blueberry flavour and they retain their shape well in cooking.