Determining the glycemic glucose equivalent value of foods in humans

Glycemic glucose equivalent is calculated from measurements of the incremental area under the blood glucose response curve (AUC) for a food of a specified weight divided by the AUC in response to a specified amount of glucose. In this study, we tested the assumption that the blood glucose response for ingested glucose is a linear function of glucose intake over a range of normal intakes and, therefore, that a reference drink of one concentration can be used and a correction factor applied to account for the fact that the reference drink and food are of different weight. Ten individuals, 9 female and 1 male with a mean age of 29 years, consumed 5 different glucose drinks—25, 50, 60, 80, and 100 g on 5 separate occasions. Two fasted blood samples were collected by capillary blood sampling, then blood samples were collected at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after the drink was consumed, then every half hour until individuals' glucose levels returned to baseline, for a maximum of 4 hours. The AUC for each of the glucose drinks was calculated. Up to a glucose load of 65 g, the AUC increased linearly with the amount of glucose, though above this level, there was a plateau effect. Therefore, glycemic glucose equivalent can be determined using a single reference concentration and a correction factor for foods containing less than 65 g of carbohydrate.