Myths in Bodybuilding : The Glycemic index Most Popular!

Most popular myths in bodybuilding What is claimed about the glycemic index and how true is it?

In the second article in the series “myths in bodybuilding” we will look in more detail at the topic of the glycemic index. We will look in two parts at the popular misconceptions floating around forums, magazines and other media. In the article on the glycemic index you can read or remember exactly what it is about. In simple terms, this is an index that provides information for comparing the ability of certain foods to increase blood glucose levels.

The glycemic index is shrouded in well-learned concepts about its action in sports nutrition. However, the problems start with the fact that some of the concepts are frankly incorrect, while others are half-true because they are based on outdated and poorly conducted research from the recent past.

In many places you will find the following statements:

  • low GI foods are preferable in order to lower the percentage of body fat;
  • different GI strongly influences body composition (lean muscle mass / adipose tissue);
  • eating food with a high GI after exercise makes the conditions in the body as optimal as possible for protein synthesis (here we mean hypertrophy);
  • low GI foods make the consumer feel fuller and dull hunger;
  • if low glycemic index diets are used in diets with the same caloric content, weight loss will be greater;
  • foods with a high GI are “scary” and should be avoided.

The list is long and can be extended further. The purpose of this article is to show you that the above things are NOT entirely true. Most are old myths that continue to spread on websites, forums, newspapers, gyms, from personal trainers and even doctors. For the most part, the things listed above are NOT true, and in others they are extremely contradictory and cannot be scientifically proven.

In order to get the most out of their workouts and diets, exercisers often go too deep into thinking, take information out of context, become obsessed with specific indices, hormones, and other things, and give them the highest priority no matter how perfectly balanced they are. our body. The glycemic index was originally created to help endocrinologists and nutritionists formulate diets for people with diabetes or some other metabolic disorder related to insulin and blood glucose. Let’s start from the beginning.

How were the values ​​for certain foods measured? GI is a concept developed in 1980-1981 at the University of Toronto, Canada. Dr. Jenkins and colleagues decided to differentiate the effect of different foods on blood sugar . Initially, 62 foods were tested on groups of 5-10 healthy people. In general, the tests were performed on an empty stomach (no food the night before the study and the day before).

Certain isolated foods (eg only glucose, only white rice, etc.) are given in a specific amount (either 50 or 100 g) and then the blood sugar level is monitored for several hours. Glucose is given a fictitious index of 100, and the values ​​of other foods are relative to it. Recently, white bread is most commonly used as food with an index of 100, but this is not relevant to the current discussion. Given the above, the GI does not apply to the actual conditions in practice. People are constantly in favor of meals. After eating a certain dish, it takes hours for it to be broken down and assimilated.

Given that we eat several times a day, we are always fed, and not as in the experiment – after many hours of complete starvation.

The glycemic index of the same food may be different

It is known that things like culinary processing, “age” of food, acidity, fiber content, etc. affect the values. Combining certain foods with protein or fat significantly changes the body’s response. In many places you will see that the combination of protein foods is recommended in order to lower the glycemic index. However, this is not always the case.

Scientists who compared the combination of cottage cheese with glucose observed higher insulin levels even than those measured by consuming each of the two foods separately . The same things can be seen in other clinical trials. Dutch experts from the University of Maastricht decided to test the effect of mixing certain amino acids or protein mixtures with carbohydrates . As mentioned at the beginning of the article, this type of test is done after complete starvation the night before the test. 8 healthy, non-obese men are participating. On different days they are given the drinks with the above-mentioned mixtures and the reaction of the body is examined.

The researchers reported the results on the area under the insulin curve in the second hour after taking the drink. Mixing hydrolyzed protein, free leucine, phenylalanine and carbohydrate can greatly increase blood insulin levels. The increase is over 100% compared to carbohydrate intake alone. Another problem is that the measured values ​​are different for different people. That is, the indices are to some extent individual.

A study compared healthy individuals with a normal BMI (body mass index) but a different lifestyle . 10 sites with a stagnant lifestyle, 12 moderately trained and 12 endurance trained people take part. There was a significant difference in the glycemic index (23 units) between the first and last group. The conclusion is that in athletes the GI of the same foods is lower. The result is interesting because it shows that GI depends not only on the specific food, but also on the individual.

The glycemic index does not match the insulin index

Another obstacle is the discrepancy between the glycemic index and insulin (AI). Many people become obsessed with GI in order to control their insulin, but there is another relevant index for it. AI records how much insulin rises after eating a certain food (everything else is similar to GI). The problem is that the two indices differ in values.

A separate issue is that foods such as whey protein, beef and others are highly insulinogenic and do not even contain carbohydrates. In this regard, we can also mention that the addition of protein to carbohydrates increases the body’s insulin response. By increasing the concentration of insulin in the blood, blood sugar drops and this gives a lower GI of a particular combination. Well, many people knew that before, but they thought the reason was completely different. A specific example is a study that shows that milk that has a very low GI has a high AI, comparable to that of white bread.

Expect the second part of the article soon. We will continue to consider discrepancies between the widely disseminated information and that which is valid and scientifically proven by specialists. We will look at the glycemic charge (loading), how GI affects the feeling of hunger (respectively satiety), as well as what effect it has when we are on a diet and trying to reduce subcutaneous fat.

Most popular myths in bodybuilding.

Sources used for most popular myths in bodybuilding :

  1. Glycemic index of foods: a physiological basis for carbohydrate exchange.1981 Mar; 34 (3): 362-6.
  2. Gannon MC, et al. Metabolic response to cottage cheese or egg white protein, with or without glucose, in type II diabetic subjects. Metabolism 1992; 41 (10): 1137-45.
  3. van Loon LJ, et al. Plasma insulin responses after ingestion of various amino acid or protein mixtures with carbohydrate. Am J Clin Nutr 2000; 72 (1): 96-105.
  4. Mettler S et. al. The influence of the subjects ’training state on the glycemic index. Eur J. Clin Nutr (2007) Jan; 61 (1): 19-24.
  5. Ostman EM, et al. Inconsistency between glycemic and insulinemic responses to regular and fermented milk products. Am J Clin Nutr 2001; 74 (1): 96-100.

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