 Her research interests focus on all aspects of carbohydrates—diet and diabetes, the glycemic index of foods, insulin resistance, lactose intolerance and oligosaccharides in infant nutrition.Brand-Miller holds a special interest in evolutionary nutrition and the diet of Australian Aborigines.As a nutrition lecturer in 1981, she was investigating Aboriginal bushfood when she came across the glycemic index, a nutritional concept devised by David J. Jenkins and colleagues from the University of Toronto.