High-GI foods cause a rapid and significant increase in blood sugar. These foods are assigned a GI of 70 or more. White bread falls within this category. Whole-wheat bread, on the other hand, has a moderate influence on blood sugar, with a GI in the range of 56 to 59.
The glycemic index is a way to measure how foods impact blood sugar. High-GI foods cause a rapid and significant increase in blood sugar.
This begs the query “Is bread good for diabetics?”
Bread can be part of a healthy diabetes diet. Living well with diabetes means keeping your blood sugar within the goal range your doctor sets for you. Controlling your carbohydrate intake is a major part of managing your blood sugar levels and preventing diabetes complications.
Does wheat raise blood sugar levels?
Many kinds of bread are high in carbohydrates and quickly raise blood sugar levels. As a result many breads should be avoided. However, pumpernickel bread and 100 percent stone-ground whole wheat bread have low GI scores, at 55 or less on the GI scale.
While writing we ran into the question “Can grains cause high blood sugar?”.
All types of breads, such as bagels, sliced breads, rolls and English muffins, as well as rice, pasta, noodles, crackers and baked goods are all converted to sugars after being eaten and can contribute to raising your blood sugar levels in the minutes and hours following your meals. A slice of whole wheat bread contains close to 4 tsp.
It’s not just wheat, ALL carbohydrates are turned into sugar in your digestive tract. This basic fact seems to escape dietitians and most doctors (and the ADA) who tell diabetics to eat carbs and lots of them. Then they prescribe drugs and insulin to drive down the resultant high blood sugar. The mantra is carb up and then shoot up.
What are the health benefits of whole wheat bread?
The dietary fiber in whole grains like whole-wheat bread contributes to your fiber intake. Dietary fiber isn’t digested by the body but provides health benefits. Fiber helps slow the absorption of sugar, which helps control blood sugar levels.
Many people have come to believe that the only problem with wheat is gluten. But there are many other issues with wheat that impair health. The amylopectin A carbohydrate of wheat is unique in its digestibility, making it worse than table sugar in its capacity to raise blood sugar, cause insulin resistance, and contribute to type 2 diabetes.