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Dietary glycaemic index, glycaemic load and subsequent changes of weight and waist circumference in European men and women

International Journal of Obesity volume 33, pages 1280–1288 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Objectives:

To investigate whether dietary glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) were associated with subsequent weight and waist circumference change.

Design:

Population-based prospective cohort study.

Setting:

Five European countries, which are Denmark, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Participants:

A total of 89 432 participants, aged 20–78 years (mean =53 years) at baseline and followed for 1.9–12.5 years (mean=6.5 years). All participants were free of self-reported cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes at baseline.

Methods:

Glycaemic index and GL were calculated on the basis of dietary intake assessed by food frequency questionnaires and by using a GI table developed for this study with published GI values as the main sources. Anthropometric data were collected both at baseline and at the end of follow-up. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted in each centre and random-effect meta-analyses were used to combine the effects. Adjustment was made for baseline anthropometrics, demographic and lifestyle factors, follow-up duration and other dietary factors.

Results:

Mean GI and GL were 57 and 134, respectively. Associations of GI and GL with subsequent changes of weight and waist circumference were heterogeneous across centres. Overall, with every 10-unit higher in GI, weight increased by 34 g per year (95% confidence interval (CI): −47, 115) and waist circumference increased by 0.19 cm per year (95% CI: 0.11, 0.27). With every 50-unit higher in GL, weight increased by 10 g per year (95% CI: −65, 85) and waist circumference increased by 0.06 cm per year (95% CI: −0.01, 0.13).

Conclusions:

Our findings do not support an effect of GI or GL on weight change. The positively significant association between GI, not GL, and subsequent gain in waist circumference may imply a beneficial role of lower GI diets in the prevention of abdominal obesity. However, further studies are needed to confirm this finding given the small effect observed in this study.

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Acknowledgements

DiOGenes is the acronym of the project ‘Diet, Obesity and Genes’ supported by the European Community (Contract no. FOOD-CT-2005-513946). The parties of the project are listed on the web site of the project (http://www.diogenes-eu.org/). This integrated programme was set up to target the issue of obesity from a dietary perspective, seeking new insights and new routes to prevention. We thank the European Prospective Investigation on Cancer and Nutrition (The EPIC project: http://epic.iarc.fr/) for allowing access to the data. HD performed the data analysis and wrote the paper; MB, NGF, JH, MUJ, BB, MS and GM helped with the interpretation of the results and gave critical comments on the paper; WS, TIAS and EF contributed to the conception of the study; and DvdA, NS, NJW, AT, KO, HB, DP, WS, TIAS and EF designed the study, contributed to the acquisition of data and providing funding, helped with the interpretation of the results and gave critical comments on the paper. All authors read and approved the final paper. HD had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    H Du & D L van der A

  2. Department of Human Biology, Nutrition and Toxicology Research Institute of Maastricht (NUTRIM), University of Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    H Du & W H M Saris

  3. Nutritional and Database Resource Team, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France

    M M E van Bakel & N Slimani

  4. MRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Medical Science, Cambridge, UK

    N G Forouhi & N J Wareham

  5. Danish Cancer Society, Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Copenhagen, Denmark

    J Halkjær & A Tjønneland

  6. Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark

    M U Jakobsen & K Overvad

  7. Department of Cardiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark

    K Overvad

  8. Public Health Nutrition Unit, Technische Universität München, Germany

    M B Schulze

  9. Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition, Potsdam, Germany

    B Buijsse & H Boeing

  10. Molecular and Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, Cancer Research and Prevention Institute (ISPO), Florence, Italy

    D Palli & G Masala

  11. Centre for Health and Society, Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark

    T I A Sørensen

  12. Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    E J M Feskens

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  1. H Du
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Correspondence to H Du.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on International Journal of Obesity website (http://www.nature.com/ijo)

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Du, H., van der A, D., van Bakel, M. et al. Dietary glycaemic index, glycaemic load and subsequent changes of weight and waist circumference in European men and women. Int J Obes 33, 1280–1288 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.163

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.163

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