Effect of Low Glycemic Index Diet on Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

The rising incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is seriously affecting the quality of life of individuals worldwide. Patients with T2D need to take medication to control blood sugar level for a lifetime, but the problem of poor medication compliance has always troubled clinical workers, and the role of diet improvement as a treatment of diabetes “five carriages” is particularly important. In recent years, the importance of food glycemic index (GI) has been extensively studied, and an increasing number of studies advise using low-GI foods as the main source of carbohydrates rather than high-GI foods. In addition to improving a person’s quality of life on a daily basis, a low-GI diet can help prevent and treat type 2 diabetes and lower the risk of its consequences, through controlling the amount of blood sugar and blood lipids. However, there are still some limitations about low GI diet, for example the complex calculating process results in a small number of clinical uses. Through a review of the literature, analysis of experimental data, and expansion of the research on the benefits of a low-GI diet in reducing T2D problems, this report validates the use of a low-GI diet.