A May 2022 perspective by Food Context, LLC said,
“The GI is increasingly used and interpreted as a measure of overall carbohydrate food quality, with some proponents advocating for its broader adoption as a public health tool. However, the GI model doesn’t address nutrient density or translate well to healthy dietary patterns, and its narrow focus on just one dimension of carbohydrate-containing foods may divert public attention away from approaches to improving health that are accessible, affordable, culturally appropriate and environmentally sustainable,”
“At best, it’s an incomplete gauge of carbohydrate food quality. At worst, it may be counterproductive to achieving the dietary recommendations set forth in the DGA.”
“The reliability of the GI has been scrutinized since its introduction more than 40 years ago, including critiques about methodology and questions about the relationship between a food’s GI value and true post-meal glycemic response,”
“Under the GI model, fat, protein and fiber are treated as entirely independent variables, but that assumption is at odds with current views about our understanding of how eating patterns influence health based on all food and beverage contributions,”
“The Mediterranean Diet is one example of a dietary pattern that has been associated with reduced disease risk; yet, not every food in a Mediterranean eating pattern is low GI,”
“Evidence increasingly suggests that it’s the total diet that counts. Improving the overall quality of an individual’s dietary patterns can have beneficial effects on a variety of diet-related chronic disease, but the effect of any single food choice is mediated by the other foods and beverages eaten, physical activity and other lifestyle choices. While the GI may illuminate some narrow insights, it also keeps many of these relevant variables in the dark.”