Low glycemic index diets met with praise from healthcare professionals

• Doctors are praising a new diet craze for its benefits for helping the heart and controlling diabetes.
• Low glycaemic index diets involve replacing high GI foods potatoes and white bread with low GI options such as apples, pasta and beans.
• A Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust team found eating just one extra low GI item per meal cut blood sugar levels, the British Journal of Nutrition said.
• The low GI diet has been dubbed the "Atkins alternative" and has been recommended by a host of celebrities.
• The Hammersmith team measured the blood sugar levels of nine people on normal diets, and then put them on a low GI diet involving replacing one low GI item per meal for two weeks.
• When the readings were taken again eight out of nine subjects had lower blood sugar readings.
• Dr Gary Frost, head of nutrition and dietetics at the trust, said: "The scientific benefits of low GI diets are becoming increasingly clear, and this new research is a further indicator of the potential that including these foods in a balanced diet has.
• "What is interesting is that replacing just one item per meal has this beneficial effect on blood sugar levels, putting people at lower risk of metabolic syndrome, a condition which can increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes."
• "It is a good way of controlling blood sugar levels, but it should form part of a balanced diet."
• And diabetes dietician Paul McArdle, of the Eastern Birmingham Primary Care Trust, said: "The GI index is a useful concept.
• "For busy people it points to an easier way to reduce the risk of disease by recognising the value of avoiding high levels of sugar in the bloodstream.