Research
Energy balance
Low glycaemic index (GI) or low glycaemic load (GL) diets do not result in greater weight loss or improved metabolic markers compared to higher GI/GL diets or other standard diets in people with overweight or obesity.
If you are trying to lose weight, switching to a low GI or GL diet is unlikely to give you better results than other diets. Focus on creating a sustainable energy deficit rather than prioritizing the glycaemic index of foods.
ModerateRefutesMEDIUM confidence
The current evidence indicates there may be little to no difference for all main outcomes between low GI/GL diets versus higher GI/GL diets or any other diet.
Why this rating
Moderate certainty for weight/BMI, but low/very low for secondary outcomes; high risk of bias due to lack of blinding.
Source
Low glycaemic index or low glycaemic load diets for people with overweight or obesity
Khadidja Chekima et al. · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · 2023
DOI 10.1002/14651858.cd005105.pub3
Meta-analysis · 10 studiesCited 11×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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