Research

Hormonal

Reducing dietary glycemic load improves insulin resistance in obese adolescents independently of weight loss.

Reducing the glycemic load of your diet can improve insulin sensitivity in obese teens, even if they don't lose as much weight as expected. This suggests that food quality (GL) has direct metabolic benefits beyond just calorie counting.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Insulin resistance as measured by means of homeostasis model assessment increased less in the experimental group during the intervention period (−0.4±0.9 vs 2.6±1.2; P=.02)... statistical adjustment for BMI did not materially alter this result (P=.03).
Cara B. Ebbeling et al. · Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine · 2003

Why this rating

Small sample size, but uses robust HOMA measure and statistical adjustment.

Source

A Reduced–Glycemic Load Diet in the Treatment of Adolescent Obesity

Cara B. Ebbeling et al. · Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine · 2003

DOI 10.1001/archpedi.157.8.773

rct · n=16Cited 436×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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