The glycemic index was discovered as a result of the research of a Canadian doctor, Thomas Wolverer, started to examine the effects of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels of people with adult onset diabetes, also known as type 2 diabetes.

This was also of interest due to the deleterious effects of the low fat craze in the 1980's. Encouraging people to dramatically decrease their fat intake and concentrate on adding grains, pastas and breads to their diet.

Understandably, this backfired for many people who thought they were eating a healthy diet, their weight gain was anything but healthy. One of the problems being that during these years we had not yet become aware of the difference between the effects of natural and processed foods on the human body.

During his research Dr. Wolverer discovered that some carbohydrates increased blood sugar and insulin levels and others did not. Stable blood sugar levels being of great importance to diabetics, he started to design ways of measuring the effects of eating carbohydrates on blood sugar. The result of his tests was the creation of the glycemic index.

This development of the gycemic index has helped thousands of people control their diabetes through diet rather than medication. However it has also helped many people who simply wanted to lose weight and others who simply want increased good health.

The glycemic index has great credibility and sound scientific validity because it has been tested on a great many people. It was developed by using glucose as a baseline and volunteers who were willing to have blood sugar levels tested as part of a controlled experiment before and after ingesting first glucose and then other foods. Obviously very brave peopel who were willing to endure multiple needles!

Glucose was given a glycemic index value of 100 and other foods are given values compared to that as a baseline.

Using the glycemic index you can tell how a food will affect your health and weight and you know this because the glycemic index is based on sound science.