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More clues about the healthiest carb choices - Harvard Health
New evidence links diets that contain more simple, low-quality carbs to a higher risk of heart disease. But the big picture is more complex.
Carbohydrate categories can be bit confusing. Nutrition experts refer to carbs as simple or complex, low-quality or high-quality, or even just "bad" or "good." Carbohydrate-rich foods can also be ranked by how quickly the sugar they contain is absorbed into your bloodstream after you eat it, using a scale known as the glycemic index, or GI (see "Glycemic index and glycemic load, explained").
First developed 40 years ago, the glycemic index was in the news again recently. Last March, The New England Journal of Medicine published a large international study suggesting that diets with a higher glycemic index and load are associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death. The link was strongest among people who were overweight or obese.
"Glycemic index is one way to think about carbohydrate quality, but it’s not the only way," says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. You can also classify carbs as sugars, starches, and fiber.
New evidence links diets that contain more simple, low-quality carbs to a higher risk of heart disease. But the big picture is more complex.
Carbohydrate categories can be bit confusing. Nutrition experts refer to carbs as simple or complex, low-quality or high-quality, or even just "bad" or "good." Carbohydrate-rich foods can also be ranked by how quickly the sugar they contain is absorbed into your bloodstream after you eat it, using a scale known as the glycemic index, or GI (see "Glycemic index and glycemic load, explained").
First developed 40 years ago, the glycemic index was in the news again recently. Last March, The New England Journal of Medicine published a large international study suggesting that diets with a higher glycemic index and load are associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death. The link was strongest among people who were overweight or obese.
"Glycemic index is one way to think about carbohydrate quality, but it’s not the only way," says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. You can also classify carbs as sugars, starches, and fiber.