If you have ever experienced the severe drop in energy after a huge pasta dinner, you already know about the effects of eating food with a high glycemic index.
As legumes with a low glycemic index, peanuts not only fill you up, but they also balance the roller-coaster ride of rising and falling blood-sugar levels.
Explanation
The glycemic index, or GI, measures how quickly 50 g of carbohydrates in a particular food raises your blood-sugar levels during digestion on a scale from zero to 100.
Highs and Lows
A 2-oz. serving of peanuts has a glycemic index of 14, well within the "low" GI range of 55 or less. Other low-GI foods include carrots, peas, apples and yogurt. Food with a high GI ranking of 70 and above includes bagels, pretzels, rice cakes and french fries.
Significance
Your pancreas secretes two types of hormones -- insulin and glucagon -- into the bloodstream to regulate blood-sugar levels. Insulin stores sugar in your cells when blood-sugar level rises; glucagon releases stored sugar from liver when blood sugar level falls.
Food with a low glycemic index helps balance your blood-sugar level, while food with a high glycemic index may spike your sugar levels up and down. According to MayoClinic.com, frequent up-and-down cycles may lead to insulin resistance, which can cause Type 2 diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.
Effects
As the major element of grains, fruit, vegetables and beans, carbohydrates have a powerful effect on blood sugar. Generally, refined carbohydrates such as bread, pasta and cereal have a high GI, as do fruit juices and soft drinks. Most fruit, vegetables, beans and nuts have a low GI. According to Harvard Medical School experts, a diet of healthy carbohydrates includes whole grains, legumes, fruit and vegetables and no fruit juice or soft drinks.
Benefits
Low-glycemic food such as peanuts can also help stabilize blood sugar levels, even when you're eating refined carbohydrates. The Peanut Institute cites an Arizona State University study that compared meals, including chicken teriyaki with butter and chicken teriyaki with peanuts. While both meals had the same amount of calories, carbs, proteins and fat, the people who ate the teriyaki with peanuts had lower rises in blood sugar. Study leader Carol S. Johnson, Ph.D., concluded this diet approach "does not require carbohydrate reduction or avoidance of high-glycemic index carbohydrate foods."
