Q&A with Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.  I find coconut water refreshing. But I have recently come across maple water. What is it? They say it is low GI. I am tempted to try it. Maple water is the very same sap from the tree that they make the syrup from. It’s long been known as …

Q&A

Guest contributor, Dr David Katz, gets to ask and answer the first Q&A for 2014.  Dr. David Katz ‘When I ask my patients why they’ve come to see me, the answer is always to get better if something is wrong, or to get advice about staying healthy if nothing is currently bothering them. My second …

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.  I watch my sister struggling to get her almost 3-year-old son to eat fruits and vegetable, or any healthy food really. I am just about to introduce my baby to solids. I don’t want to go through what she is dealing with. Have you any tips to help me?  …

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.  I know that type 2 diabetes is one of the fastest growing chronic diseases worldwide. Do we know why this is so and what people like me (it runs in my family) can do to prevent getting it?  The global increase in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is …

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.  Isn’t the insulin response more important than the GI value? Wouldn’t it be better to have an insulin index of foods?  The insulin demand exerted by foods is indeed important for long-term health, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that we need an insulin index of foods instead of a …

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.  Why doesn’t cheese have a GI value? Other dairy foods like milk and yoghurt and even ice cream do.  The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the extent to which they raise blood glucose levels after eating. Only …

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.  I don’t understand how you can bake sweet foods like cakes or desserts that don’t have sugar in them (I’m not talking about artificial sweeteners here). What makes them sweet? Can you explain?  I can see why it is a confused and confusing area. We have to go back …

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.  Can you explain the difference between glycemic index, glycemic load and glycemic response?  Glycemic Index (GI) is a measure of the quality of carbohydrate. It compares carbohydrates, gram for gram, in one food versus another. Different carbohydrate foods can behave quite differently in your body. Some break down quickly …

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.  ‘How about giving us the GL of your recipes? Calories, fat, etc are all very interesting, but you’re supposed to be the “Glycemic Index Newsletter” and I find it frustrating that I have to go searching and calculating the GL of your recipes.’ Most of us have great faith …

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.  What’s wrong with a low carb diet?  Recent studies show that low carb diets can produce faster rates of weight loss than conventional low fat diets. The probable mechanism is lower day-long insulin levels – allowing greater use of fat as the source of fuel – the same mechanism …