Whole wheat bread and insulin

Whole wheat bread has an insulin index of about 96 relative to white bread = 100 — high — and a glycemic index of about 74 relative to glucose = 100.

Insulin index

relative to white bread = 100

High

Published measurement. Holt SH, Brand Miller JC, Petocz P. An insulin index of foods. Am J Clin Nutr 1997;66:1264-76, Table 1 -- listed as "Wholemeal bread"

Glycemic index

relative to glucose = 100

High

Published measurement. Atkinson FS, Foster-Powell K, Brand-Miller JC. International Tables of Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load Values: 2008. Diabetes Care 2008;31:2281-3 -- listed as "Wholemeal bread"

An index is not a dose

Both numbers describe the food itself, measured against a reference — they do not grow with your portion. The quantity that adds up across a meal is the load: insulin load scales with the energy in what you ate, glycemic load with its available carbohydrate. That is why a steak with no carbohydrate still carries a real insulin load and a glycemic load of zero.

See it on a real plate

The scanner reads a meal and works out the load from the portion in front of you, not the index.

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Also on this food: its oxalate content, from the same database.

Frequently asked

What is the insulin index of whole wheat bread?›

About 96 relative to white bread = 100 — high. This figure is a published measurement.

Does whole wheat bread raise blood sugar?›

Its glycemic index is about 74 relative to glucose = 100 — high. Glycemic index describes the food, not your portion.

Is the insulin index the same as the glycemic index?›

No, and treating them as interchangeable is the most common mistake. Glycemic index tracks blood glucose; the insulin index tracks the insulin actually released. Protein raises insulin while barely moving glucose, so meat, fish and whey score near zero on one axis and well above it on the other.

How does a serving change these numbers?›

It does not. An index is a property of the food, like a percentage — it does not double when you eat twice as much. What scales with your portion is the load, and the scanner works that out from what is actually on the plate (a 1 slice here).

Insulin and glycemic figures are reference values for whole foods, most of them estimated and every one labelled. They are not medical advice, not a prediction of your own response, and independent of the carb alarm. Individual responses vary with the rest of the meal, preparation and the person.

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