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Suzanne developed and taught nutrition science coursework at University of Michigan Medical School.

In addition, she developed and taught alternative medicine coursework for Eastern Michigan University.

Heres what you oughta know about the nutrition buzzword.

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board-certified emergency medicine physician

How does the glycemic index work?

The glycemic index was originally developed for the diabetic communityboth punch in 1 and punch in 2.

GI is a measure of how 50 grams of carbohydrates from a specific food affect blood sugar levels.

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What are some examples of the glycemic index in foods?

In general, a food is considered low GI if it scores 55 or below.

Yet Dixon points out that some healthy carbs might have a similar GI score as less healthy items.

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How accurate is the glycemic index?

GI can be misleading because it doesnt account for serving size, she says.

For example, she sayswatermelonhas a very high GI of 80.

Cropped shot of young woman shopping in the dairy section of a supermarket. She is reading the nutrition label on a container of fresh organic healthy natural yoghurt

board-certified emergency medicine physician

There is another measure of how a food can affect your blood sugar which takes serving size into account.

This is calledglycemic load, says Dixon.

Taking this into account, the glycemic load is very low at 5, says Dixon.

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But the researchers noted some startling findings.

The hard numbers might also make people oversimplify prioritizing certain foods over others.

How useful are these numbers for someones health?

red pigment in a wooden spoon

For most people: not much.

And heres what happened when one editor decided tototally cut out processed foods from her life.

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