Get to Know the Glycemic Index and How It Affects Your Overall Health
Keeping track of calories, carbs, fiber, and protein are familiar ways to gauge the nutritional value of your meals, but understanding the glycemic index (GI) can add another layer of insight, particularly for managing blood sugar levels and overall health.
The glycemic index ranks how foods affect blood sugar levels, and choosing low- GI options can help maintain stable blood sugar and reduce insulin resistance. Read on to learn why the GI is especially relevant for postmenopausal women, and how to use it to your advantage.
What Is the Glycemic Index?
The GI is a measure of how quickly carbohydrate-containing foods raise blood sugar levels. Foods with a high GI—such as white bread, white rice, cookies, cake, and sugary soft drinks—cause rapid increases in blood sugar, which may contribute to weight gain, insulin resistance, an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Declining estrogen in the postmenopausal years exacerbates insulin resistance and prediabetes, which makes the choice of lower GI foods ideal. “The incidence of prediabetes for women younger than 50 is around 34 percent, but that number jumps by an additional 20 percent in women over 50 years of age, which shows that the older we get the more at risk we are. Prediabetes is a warning sign for women to change their lifestyle and stabilize their blood glucose levels to get out of that warning zone,” says Gabrielle Gambino, MS, RD, a senior clinical dietitian at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell.
Stabilize Your Blood Sugar
Fluctuations in blood sugar can also affect energy levels, mood, and cognitive function, which are particularly pertinent for postmenopausal women. When blood sugar levels spike after consuming high-GI foods, the body responds by releasing insulin to help cells absorb glucose for energy. However, this rapid increase in insulin can lead to a subsequent drop in blood sugar levels, resulting in hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia can starve the brain of glucose, its primary source of energy, leading to symptoms such as confusion, difficulty concentrating, mood swings, and fatigue. In postmenopausal women, whose bodies may already be experiencing hormonal changes affecting cognitive function, these fluctuations in blood sugar can compound cognitive symptoms.
“High-GI food consumption causes a spike in sugar and a subsequent release of insulin, leading to a quick drop in blood sugar shortly after—this high variability in blood sugar can cause fatigue, brain fog, and irritability. These symptoms are also seen with menopause, so large variances in your sugar levels can generally make these feelings more pronounced,” says Gambino.
Insulin Resistance and Alzheimer’s Disease
Chronic fluctuations in blood sugar levels over time may contribute to the development of insulin resistance, and insulin resistance has been associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. “The prevalence of diabetes in patients with Alzheimer’s disease is approximately 80 percent. This could be due to nerve damage secondary to uncontrolled sugar and related inflammation. We see nerve damage in many parts of the body as a result of diabetes, so it makes sense that it would also affect the brain. When nerve damage happens in the brain, it leads to cell damage,” says Gambino.
Low GI Foods and HbA1c
The goal of incorporating more low-GI foods into our diets is to stabilize blood sugar and avoid the ill effects associated with chronic high blood glucose. The measurement used to determine blood glucose levels, an HbA1c test, shows your average blood glucose levels for the preceding three months. A normal HbA1c level is less than 5.7 percent, while 5.7 percent to 6.4 percent indicates prediabetes, and 6.5 percent or higher means you may have diabetes. “If someone has prolonged high sugars, as detected by HbA1c, their body is in a constant state of inflammation, which leads to irreparable damage. Controlling blood sugar on a daily basis can bring down HbA1c in the longterm, and— particularly for prediabetes—could reverse the damage before it becomes a chronic illness,” says Gambino.
Postmenopausal women can benefit from consuming a balanced diet of primarily low-GI foods that provide a steady supply of glucose to all organs, including the brain. Consuming whole grains, lean proteins, healthy fats, and low-GI fruits and vegetables can support optimal cognitive function.
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