Accurate Nutrition Website?

[dtg]

I've visited Nutritiondata and Calorieking and both have some inaccuracies or inconsistencies...

Particulary, I'm trying to find a website that has accurate information about glycemic index and glycemic load. I know Mendoza is another one but most of the foods listed are not sold in the States.

For example, we all know that whole grain pasta is fairly low glycemic and so is quinoa gain. However, Nutritiondata.com says that the glycemic load of 2oz of whole grain pasta is 28! And the glycemic load of 1 serving quinoa is 20. Those ar very high numbers! If that is true, then what carbs can we actually eat!:eek:

[Jinx5000]

i use and really like DailyPlate. it's in conjunction with some lance armstrong livestrong promotions but it seems to have very accurate results and a ton of general as well as name brand products

[Boddhisatva]

I've visited Nutritiondata and Calorieking and both have some inaccuracies or inconsistencies...

Particulary, I'm trying to find a website that has accurate information about glycemic index and glycemic load. I know Mendoza is another one but most of the foods listed are not sold in the States.

For example, we all know that whole grain pasta is fairly low glycemic and so is quinoa gain. However, Nutritiondata.com says that the glycemic load of 2oz of whole grain pasta is 28! And the glycemic load of 1 serving quinoa is 20. Those ar very high numbers! If that is true, then what carbs can we actually eat!:eek:

The glycemic load of pasta is so high because it is made up of mostly carbs. For the quinoa I would look and see exactly what they are using as a serving size. In general I would use the GI and GL as a very rough index of what you should be eating, and realize that it will vary depending on brand name. I suggest checking out some legumes or barley if you are looking for a filling carb with a low GI.

The long and short of it is if you prepare a meal that is 90% carbs it is going to have a high GL. Cut it down by adding protein or veggies.

[Jinx5000]

a second website i really like is whfoods.com... provides a great breakdown of nutrition for the Worlds Healthiest foods

[dtg]

The glycemic load of pasta is so high because it is made up of mostly carbs. For the quinoa I would look and see exactly what they are using as a serving size. In general I would use the GI and GL as a very rough index of what you should be eating, and realize that it will vary depending on brand name. I suggest checking out some legumes or barley if you are looking for a filling carb with a low GI.

The long and short of it is if you prepare a meal that is 90% carbs it is going to have a high GL. Cut it down by adding protein or veggies.

So you're saying a serving is not a serving... ?

So if I take 56g of whole grain pasta and eat it alone, it will have a higher GL than if I eat the same 56g with a steak and some olive oil?

Is that right?

[Boddhisatva]

So you're saying a serving is not a serving... ?

So if I take 56g of whole grain pasta and eat it alone, it will have a higher GL than if I eat the same 56g with a steak and some olive oil?

Is that right?

I am saying that the glycemic load is dependent on the serving size. GL is defined as the GI / 100 x (carbs-fiber). This is nice because you can calculate the GL for whatever size serving your eating at the time. So if you double the serving size you will double the GL because you are doubling the (carbs-fiber). So I was saying to beware when you see a reported GL because it changes with how big of a serving they are using.

Serving size is not defined by the FDA. Side effects of this are the fact that Splenda can boast having 0 calories while the first ingredient is maltodextrin. Make the serving size small enough and you can just round those calories down to 0. There are also many "trans-fat free" products made with partially hydrogenated oil, which is trans-fat.

So yes an equal amount of steak will have a lower GL, but because 56g of steak will have a lot less carbs than 56g of pasta.

[dtg]

I'm sorry if my question was not clear. Let me try again...

Can you reduce the GL of a food by adding something else to it? For example, if I ate 56g of pasta alone or if I ate 56g of pasta with an 8oz steak, would that second meal combination have an overall lower GL because I added a protein and that in itself has a very low GL? The question is about averaging two GLs to get one GL for the overall meal. Let's say the pasta has a GL of 20 and the steak has a GL of 2. Would my overall meal GL be 11 (i.e. 22/2)?

I am saying that the glycemic load is dependent on the serving size. GL is defined as the GI / 100 x (carbs-fiber). This is nice because you can calculate the GL for whatever size serving your eating at the time. So if you double the serving size you will double the GL because you are doubling the (carbs-fiber). So I was saying to beware when you see a reported GL because it changes with how big of a serving they are using.

Serving size is not defined by the FDA. Side effects of this are the fact that Splenda can boast having 0 calories while the first ingredient is maltodextrin. Make the serving size small enough and you can just round those calories down to 0. There are also many "trans-fat free" products made with partially hydrogenated oil, which is trans-fat.

So yes an equal amount of steak will have a lower GL, but because 56g of steak will have a lot less carbs than 56g of pasta.

[Boddhisatva]

I'm sorry if my question was not clear. Let me try again...

Can you reduce the GL of a food by adding something else to it? For example, if I ate 56g of pasta alone or if I ate 56g of pasta with an 8oz steak, would that second meal combination have an overall lower GL because I added a protein and that in itself has a very low GL? The question is about averaging two GLs to get one GL for the overall meal. Let's say the pasta has a GL of 20 and the steak has a GL of 2. Would my overall meal GL be 11 (i.e. 22/2)?

I am pretty sure you can't just average GLs. It doesn't seem to make sense logically for me, and here is why. Lets take your 56g of pasta and say the GI=49, carbs=50g, and fiber=4g. For your 8oz steak lets say the GI=42, carbs=5g, and no fiber. So here are the calculated GLs independently.

Pasta 49/100x(50-4)= 22.54
Steak 42/100x(5-0)= 2.1

So you want to average them, giving you a GL of 12.32, but your really eating a cumulative meal and not an average. So this new meal needs it's own GI, and it will probably fall somewhere in the middle of the original two. So lets say the new GI is 45 and take a look at the numbers.

Steak stuffed pasta 45/100x(55-4)= 22.95

So by adding steak you are actually increasing your GL, which makes sense since your just adding food. To get a GL thats an average of the two you would have to substitute half the pasta for half the steak, which would give you a GL like this.

45/100x((55-4)/2+(5-0))= 12.6 (pretty close for just making up a GI)

In reality though if you ate the other half of the steak your GL would only go up by about 0.5 so I would just eat it anyway from a glycemic point of view. So the point behind all the numbers is that it would be best to substitute the high carb foods with meats and veggis.