Glycemic Index

Glycemia refers to blood sugar levels, namely, the amount of sugar (glucose) in one’s blood.

Glycemic indexes measure carbs’ from the perspective of their pure sugar/starch content in order to determine how they affect glycemia (blood sugar levels) after meals.

Glycemic Index of Most Common Foods

Food item GI (Glucose = 100) GI (Bread = 100) Serving size (grams or milliliters)
SOURCE: Adapted from Foster-Powell et al.*
Beverages      
Coca Cola, soft drink (Atlanta, GA, USA) 63 90 250 ml
Apple juice, unsweetened 40 57 250 ml
Orange juice (mean of Canada, Australia, & USA) 52 74 250 ml
Breads      
Bagel, white, frozen (Lender's Bakery, Montreal Canada) 72 103 70 g
Wonder, enriched white bread 73 105 30 g
Healthy Choice Hearty 7 Grain Wheat bread (Con Agra Inc., USA) 55 79 30 g
Dairy Products and Alternatives      
Ice cream, regular flavor, not specified (mean of Canada, Italy, & USA) 61 87 50 g
Milk, full-fat (mean of Italy, Sweden, USA, Australia, and Canada) 27 38 250 g
Milk, skim (Canada) 32 46 250 g
Fruit and Fruit Products      
Apples, raw (mean of Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, USA, and Italy) 38 52 120 g
Banana, raw (mean of Canada, USA, Italy, Denmark, and South Africa) 52 74 120 g
Grapefruit, raw (Canada) 25 36 120 g
Pasta and Noodles      
Macaroni and cheese, boxed (Kraft General Foods Canada, Inc., Don Mills, Canada) 64 92 180 g
Spaghetti, white or type not specified, boiled 10-15 min (mean of Italy, Sweden, and Canada) 44 64 180 g
Ravioli, durum wheat flour, meat-filled, boiled (Australia) 39 56 180 g
Vegetables      
Green peas, frozen, boiled (mean of Canada and India) 48 68 80 g
Carrots, not specified (Canada) 92 131 80 g
Baked potato, without fat (mean of Canada and USA) 85 121 150 g
 

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Resources

PDF file * International table of glycemic index and glycemic load values: 20021,2 Kaye Foster-Powell, Susanna HA Holt and Janette C Brand-Miller. From the Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences, University of Sydney, Australia. Reliable tables of glycemic index (GI) compiled from the scientific literature are instrumental in improving the quality of research examining the relation between GI, glycemic load, and health. Several prospective observational studies have shown that the chronic consumption of a diet with a high glycemic load (GI x dietary carbohydrate content) is independently associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers. This revised table contains almost 3 times the number of foods listed in the original table (first published in this Journal in 1995) and contains nearly 1300 data entries derived from published and unpublished verified sources. The revised table also lists the glycemic load associated with the consumption of specified serving sizes of different foods.