Dietary glycemic index and load in relation to metabolic risk factors in Japanese female farmers with traditional dietary habits.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the relation of dietary glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) to metabolic risk factors, particularly in non-Western populations.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the cross-sectional associations between dietary GI and GL and several metabolic risk factors in healthy Japanese women with traditional dietary habits.

DESIGN: The subjects were 1354 Japanese female farmers aged 20-78 y from 5 regions of Japan. Dietary GI and GL were assessed with a self-administered diet-history questionnaire. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated as weight (kg) divided by the square of height (m). Fasting blood samples were collected for biochemical measurements.

RESULTS: The mean dietary GI was 67, and the mean dietary GL (/1000 kcal) was 88 (GI for glucose = 100). White rice (GI = 77) was the major contributor to dietary GI and GL (58.5%). After adjustment for potential dietary and nondietary confounding factors, dietary GI was positively correlated with BMI (n = 1354; P for trend = 0.017), fasting triacylglycerol (n = 1349; P for trend = 0.001), fasting glucose (n = 764; P for trend = 0.022), and glycated hemoglobin (n = 845; P for trend = 0.038). Dietary GL was independently negatively correlated with HDL cholesterol (n = 1354; P for trend = 0.004) and positively correlated with fasting triacylglycerol (P for trend = 0.047) and fasting glucose (P for trend = 0.012).

CONCLUSIONS: Both dietary GI and GL are independently correlated with several metabolic risk factors in subjects whose dietary GI and GL were primarily determined on the basis of the GI of white rice.