The link between dietary glycemic index and nutrient adequacy1234

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Background: Low–glycemic index (low-GI) diets may be less nutritious because of limited food choices. Alternately, high-GI diets could be less healthful because of a higher intake of refined carbohydrate.

Objective: The objective was to investigate the association between dietary GI, intakes of carbohydrates from high-GI (CHOhigh GI) and low-GI (CHOlow GI) sources, and the risk of nutrient inadequacy in children and adolescents.

Design: Children, aged 2–16 y, who provided 2 plausible 24-h recalls in a national survey were included (n = 4140). The ORs of not meeting the Australian Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs) were calculated by logistic regression.

Results: Subjects with higher intakes of CHOhigh GI were found to be at risk of not meeting the NRVs for a wide range of nutrients, including calcium and iodine (both P-trend < 0.001). In comparison with subjects in the lowest quartile of CHOhigh GI, those in the highest quartile had 3 times (adjusted OR: 3.13; 95% CI: 2.47, 3.97; P-trend < 0.001) the risk of not meeting the Estimated Average Requirement for calcium. For iodine, the risk increased >5-fold (adjusted OR: 5.45; 95% CI: 3.97, 7.48; P-trend < 0.001). On the other hand, subjects with higher intakes of CHOlow GI were less likely to meet Adequate Intakes of unsaturated fatty acids (all P-trend < 0.001), despite having lower risks of not meeting the NRVs for most nutrients.

Conclusion: Children and adolescents who consume more CHOlow GI are more likely to meet most nutrient recommendations than those consuming higher GI diets.

Abbreviations:

ANCNPAS
Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey
ALA
α-linolenic acid
CHOhigh GI
carbohydrate from higher–glycemic index foods
CHOlow GI
carbohydrate from low–glycemic index foods
EAR
Estimated Average Requirement
GI
glycemic index
GL
glycemic load
LA
linoleic acid
LC n–3 PUFA
long-chain n–3 PUFA
NRV
Nutrient Reference Value

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1

From the Cluster for Public Health Nutrition, Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise, and Eating Disorders, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia (JCYL); the Nutrition and Health Unit, Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund, Germany (AEB); the Discipline of Nutrition and Metabolism, School of Molecular Bioscience, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia (JCB-M and JCYL); and the School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Biosciences, The University of Wollongong,Wollongong, Australia (VMF).

2

This manuscript was given as an oral presentation at the 2010 Nutrition Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting held in Perth, Australia, on 30 November 2010.

3

Supported by internal revenue.

4

Address correspondence and requests for reprints to VM Flood, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, The University of Wollongong NSW 2522, Australia. E-mail: [email protected].

Copyright © 2012 American Society for Nutrition. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.