This is from the Dr. Stephen Byrnes Health on the Edge Newsletter and 
pertains to the recent discussion here about high glycemic index foods. Few 
on this list would question the exclusion of sugar and grains from the diet, 
but when it comes to such foods as carrots, parsnips, potatoes, yams, raisins 
and bananas, the debate enters a very gray area. The link provided is a 
detailed abstract of the original article, and goes into greater detail 
regarding BMI as well.

Comments, anyone?

Maddy Mason
Hudson Valley, NY

"4. High Glycemic Foods & Heart Disease
From http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/75/3/492 
Simon Liu and his colleagues at Harvard have just published a paper 
implicating high glycemic index carbohydrate foods as causative agents in 
heart disease.

Background: Recent prospective data suggest that intake of rapidly digested 
and absorbed carbohydrates with a high dietary glycemic load is associated 
with an increased risk of ischemic heart disease. The research also showed 
that high glycemic foods elevated levels of C-Reactive Protein (CRP), a 
marker for inflammation in the blood vessels. 

The conclusion of the study was that dietary glycemic load is significantly 
and positively associated with plasma hs-CRP, independent of conventional 
risk factors for ischemic heart disease.

The evidence continues to mount against certain carbohydrates in their roles 
in heart disease. High glycemic foods include potatoes, refined sugar, 
carrots, parsnips, white rice, whole and refined wheat, raisins, and bananas. 
Many of these foods are usually regarded as healthy, but this study calls 
this assumption into question. Remember that you can always slow down a high 
glycemic food’s absorption into the bloodstream by eating it with a healthy 
fat. So saute those carrots in butter, top those potatoes with butter and 
sour cream, and eat your whole grain breads with butter. Of course, avoid the 
white rice, white flour, and refined sugars--unhealthy foods no matter what 
is eaten with them."