On Wed, 21 Mar 2001, matesz wrote:

> On Tue, 20 Mar 2001 09:56:00 -0500 Todd Moody wrote:
>
> > However, the diets studied were 47% of energy from carbohydrate.
> > How significant would this effect be in a diet at a significantly
> > lower carb intake level?
>
> Much depends on what kind of carbohydrate or protein is ingested.   Carbs
> with low insulin requirements (e.g. legumes) may ultimately produce a lower
> insulin level than proteins that stimulate insulin release.

Agreed.  But total carbohydrate matters too, since any
carbohydrate in excess of what the body can use at a given time
is converted to saturated fat, increasing the SFA load that the
cells have to deal with.  As I recall, we burn glucose at about
8g/hour.  The authors of Life Without Bread claim that there is
about a 3-hour window of time following a meal for glucose to be
taken up and used.  This is why they set a maximum of 24g of
utilizable carbs per meal.

> People have been a bit mislead by the glycemic index, in that this index
> only looks at how the food affects blood sugar levels, not insulin levels.

True, and this can be misleading.  The chart at
http://venus.nildram.co.uk/veganmc/insulin.htm is useful for this
purpose.  One wishes more foods had been tested, though.

> Insulin is release not only in response to blood sugar levels,
> but also in response to essential amino acid levels  (insulin ushers amino
> acids into cells).   Some proteins--namely, those richest in essential amino
> acids--stimulate more insulin release than others.  Some experts are now
> looking more at insulin-releasing effects of foods, rather than glycemic
> index.

And so they should.  Note that peanuts are the big winners in
glycemic index, with eggs and all-bran tied for second place.
This is interesting, since eggs contain fairly high-quality
protein, I believe.  It's also interesting that both white and
brown pasta have a lower insulin score than beef or fish, and
popcorn is about equal to beef.  It's also interesting that
oranges and apples are almost exactly the same as fish -- and
potato chips!

Todd Moody
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