Glycemic Load – GL
Glycemic Load is also a ranking system for carbs in foods taking into account both Glycemic Index and the serving size. It is a new way to measure the effect of carbohydrate consumption on blood glucose, providing us with a complete picture.
GL of a certain food is the quantity in grams of its carb content, times its index value and divided by 100. For example, a 100 g serving of banana has a GI value of 52 and carb content is 20g, so its load value is 20*(52/100) =10.4. A GL of 20 or more is high, 11 to 19 is medium and 10 or less is considered low.
GI vs GL
Take carrots, index value is rather high, but this rating is based on blood glucose effect of eating 50 grams of carbs from carrots, a serving of carrots certainly does not have that much of carbohydrate, so its impact on blood sugar is much less than many high GI foods.
The index value of potatoes, on the other hand, is more accurate because potatoes are carbohydrate dense. Load value is also quite high. Generally speaking, foods with medium to high load values can have very low to very high GIs, whereas a low GI mostly means a low GL.
In other words, GI tells you if the type of sugar in a food is ‘fast-releasing’ but not how much carbohydrate there is in the food. For instance, we consider watermelon as a high glycemic index food but it has very little carbohydrate in it or something like chocolate has a medium GI and it has a very high content of sugar.
GL will tell you exactly how it will affect your blood sugar level, your weight, and your energy. Therefore it is a more accurate measure of whether the food can be considered good for your health.
If you want to learn more about the glycemic load food list you can click on
It is a great take on the glycemic load and how to use it!
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