Research

Hormonal

Higher dietary glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) are robustly associated with an increased risk of incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) in adults initially in good health.

To lower your risk of type 2 diabetes, prioritize foods with a lower glycemic index and load. This means choosing carbohydrates that digest more slowly, rather than just reducing the total amount of carbs. The evidence suggests that the quality of carbohydrates, specifically their impact on blood sugar rise, is a significant predictor of diabetes risk in healthy adults.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
In conclusion, among adults initially in good health, diets higher in GI or GL were robustly associated with incident T2D.
Geoffrey Livesey et al. · Nutrients · 2019

Why this rating

Systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies with rigorous inclusion criteria (valid dietary instruments).

Source

Dietary Glycemic Index and Load and the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Updated Meta-Analyses of Prospective Cohort Studies

Geoffrey Livesey et al. · Nutrients · 2019

DOI 10.3390/nu11061280

Meta-analysis · 10 studiesCited 239×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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