Vol. 5, Issue 4, Part H (2019)

When a meal containing carbohydrate is consumed, there is a characteristic rise and fall in the levels of blood glucose over a period of about 3 hours. This is known as glycemic response. The measurement of the post prandial blood glucose response has been placed on a firm quantitative footing, using the concept of GI.

The GI was proposed as a method of assessing and classifying the glycemic response to foods. GI is expressed as the rise in blood glucose relative to fasting levels produced by a given amount of available carbohydrate in a standard drink or meal in the form of glucose solution or white bread.