Glycemic Load

With this application, you can quickly reach the glycemic load values of that nutrients required for the low carbohydrate diet.

- What is Glycemic load

The glycemic load (GL) of food is a number that estimates how much the food will raise a person's blood glucose level after eating it. One unit of glycemic load approximates the effect of consuming one gram of glucose. Glycemic load accounts for how much carbohydrate is in the food and how much each gram of carbohydrate in the food raises blood glucose levels.

- How is the glycemic load calculated?

Glycemic load is based on the glycemic index (GI), and is calculated by multiplying the grams of available carbohydrate in the food times the food's GI and then dividing by 100.

For example, watermelon has a GI of 72. A 100 g serving of watermelon has 5 g of available carbohydrates (it contains a lot of water), making the calculation 5 × 72/100=3.6, so the GL is 3.6. A food with a GI of 100 and 10 g of available carbohydrates has a GL of 10 (10 × 100/100=10), while a food with 100 g of carbohydrate and a GI of just 10 also has a GL of 10 (100 × 10/100=10).

- Glycemic load ranging

For one serving of a food, a GL greater than 20 is considered high, a GL of 11–19 is considered medium, and a GL of 10 or less is considered low. Foods that have a low GL in a typical serving size almost always have a low GI. Foods with an intermediate or high GL in a typical serving size range from a very low to very high GI.