The glycemic index (GI) is a traditional numerical value that indicates the amount of glucose entering the bloodstream after the product has been digested. The higher it is, the more glucose is formed in the blood after a meal. A healthy lifestyle involves keeping sugar at a certain level. This is easy to do by eliminating or limiting the use of white bread, sweets and fruits from the diet. However, coffee indices often disappear because we are used to drinking these drinks in any situation: at home, at a party, on work breaks, etc. This can affect the health of some population groups because prepared coffee drinks can have a very high GI relative to various recipes.
Who needs to know the GI?
Information about the #GI of the products that make up the menu is useful for anyone monitoring their health and trying to stick to a healthy diet. But there are groups of people where calculating #glycemic #indexes is vital. These include:
any degree of diabetes;
people with pancreatic diseases;
fat;
those who are on a diet to lose weight;
professional athletes.
In the first three cases, the GI is necessary to keep blood sugar low and not provoke disease-related ailments. For those trying to lose weight, it is important to keep the GI at a level where the weight loss process is effective but not harmful to health. But athletes who are professionally engaged in heavy sports - runners, weightlifters, bodybuilders - in order to concentrate energy, especially during competitions, on the contrary, need to increase blood sugar levels. This means that they must consume foods with a high GI during certain periods.
glycemic index of coffee
Pure coffee has a fairly high GI: 42-52 units. Therefore, the abuse of a drink can well affect the level of glucose in the blood, weight gain, metabolism. And if you consider that many people like coffee varieties with milk, condensed milk, butter, cream, egg yolks, the health hazard only intensifies.
natural
Coffee varieties grown in the mountains contain less caffeine and sugar than those grown in the valleys. Colombian varieties are believed to have the highest GI. If we compare Arabica and #Robusta, the latter has a higher index. because it's twice the amount of caffeine.
Soluble
Ready-made powders are made from inexpensive Robusta varieties, so the indexes of such solutions are always higher than natural coffee and range from 50 to 60 units. At the same time, people prefer to drink a ready-made drink with sugar and milk, which only increases its GI value. For example, Nescafe in a 3-in-1 bag from Nestle has an index of 70 to 80 units.
with milk
On the one hand, milk reduces its caffeine content, which means it should also lower the glycemic index, but the drink's own index increases (30 units). As a result, the addition of milk or cream increases the GI. 38-42 pieces for natural coffee with milk, 50-55 with cream; latte - 75-90. The #espresso and #americano figures with milk are slightly lower: 18-23 and 28-33 respectively.
Sugary
The glycemic index of sugar is 75 units. This figure can be used to evaluate the performance of beverages with added sugar. So, a natural freshly brewed drink with sugar has an indicator of 60 units, an instant - 70.
GI depending on cooking method
Not only additives are important, but also brewing method, grain type, roasting quality.
If we talk about the brewing method, then here is the rule: the more the ground grains come into contact with water, the higher the caffeine level and the more sugar will evaporate into the drink. Therefore, ristretto has the lowest GI - 30 units: its contact with water does not exceed 15-20 seconds. In the second place #espresso is prepared, in the third place it is prepared in a coffee machine by capsule or drip method.
Can I drink while dieting?
Many diets do not prohibit #coffee. This can happen with severe metabolic disorders, severe diabetes, advanced obesity and some other diseases. In most cases, a drink is not prohibited during medical or sports diets. You just need to take into account the coffee index and not abuse the amount.
Therefore, it is better for diabetics to stay away from ready-made options and, if possible, drink natural Americano or espresso without sugar. For those who are on a diet to lose weight, it is worth reducing the use of variations with milk, cream, especially condensed milk, and switching to espresso or basically prepared drinks, for example, lungo, macchiato, romano.