Glycemic Index of Ghanaian Foods ?
What is Glycemic index (GI)?
Not all carbs are equal! The Glycemic Index (GI) is a relative ranking of carbohydrate in foods according to how they affect blood glucose levels and therefore insulin levels.
Low GI carbs are digested, absorbed & metabolised very slowly, therefore causing a slower rise in blood glucose levels. Whereas high GI carbs causes a rapid increase in glucose levels because of fast digestion & absorption.
This is why some foods gives you energy fast.
Insulin promotes to FAT storage!
As long as you have high insulin levels, your body is ready to convert any extra food to fat.
A lower glycemic index equates to a lower insulin demand & therefore is key in weight management.
The key in all this is Insulin. The hormone insulin moves the sugar out of the bloodstream and into our organs where it can be used for energy. That is why certain foods give you instant energy (which is required at times). Extra glucose that is not used by the cells is stored as fat.
Insulin promotes to FAT storage!
As long as you have high insulin levels, your body is ready to convert any extra food to fat.
A lower glycemic index equates to a lower insulin demand & therefore is key in weight management.
There is another hormone secreted by the pancreas called glucagon. It’s function is exactly the opposite of insulin. It helps maintain blood glucose levels from dropping too low.This is done by metabolising stored fat in ur body. That is what you want when you are looking to lose fat.
Just to be clear, high GI food are not “fattening”. They mayb low in calories too. But consumption of these promote insulin production, and therefore create a favourable environment for fat storage, if not akes it difficult to burn any fat.
Glycemic Index of Ghanaian Foods
High Glycemic Index (GI) foods rapidly affect blood sugar, while low GI foods have a slow digestion and absorption, and produce a more gradual rise in blood sugar. Below 55 is considered low GI. So the lower it is, the better and the higher it is, the faster it affects blood sugar.
Ghanaian foods are mainly high carbohydrates and starchy foods…
👉Ga Kenkey (41)
👉pounded fufu (55)
👉Tuo Zaafi (68) had a medium GI and
👉Abolo had a medium GI value of 58
👉Akple also had a medium glycemic index value of 69
👉Locally made kokonte had the least GI of 7 followed processed kokonte which had a GI of 18
👉Kafa ha a low Glycemic index of 29.
👉Glycemic index of yam is 51
👉The glycemic index of pounded yam was 61 and 59
👉Glycemic index of cassava is 61
👉Glycemic of Cocoyam is 76
👉Glycemic index of Ghana Jollof rice is 53
Dr Udomoh
