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Importance Foods that have similar carbohydrate content can differ in the amount they raise blood glucose. The effects of this property, called the glycemic index, on risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes are not well understood. 
  
 Objective To determine the effect of glycemic index and amount of total dietary carbohydrate on risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. 
  
 Design, Setting, and Participants Randomized crossover-controlled feeding trial conducted in research units in academic medical centers, in which 163 overweight adults (systolic blood pressure, 120-159 mm Hg) were given 4 complete diets that contained all of their meals, snacks, and calorie-containing beverages, each for 5 weeks, and completed at least 2 study diets. The first participant was enrolled April 1, 2008; the last participant finished December 22, 2010. For any pair of the 4 diets, there were 135 to 150 participants contributing at least 1 primary outcome measure. 
  
 Interventions (1) A high–glycemic index (65% on the glucose scale), high-carbohydrate diet (58% energy); (2) a low–glycemic index (40%), high-carbohydrate diet; (3) a high–glycemic index, low-carbohydrate diet (40% energy); and (4) a low–glycemic index, low-carbohydrate diet. Each diet was based on a healthful DASH-type diet. 
  
 Main Outcomes and Measures The 5 primary outcomes were insulin sensitivity, determined from the areas under the curves of glucose and insulin levels during an oral glucose tolerance test; levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides; and systolic blood pressure. 
  
 Results At high dietary carbohydrate content, the low– compared with high–glycemic index level decreased insulin sensitivity from 8.9 to 7.1 units (−20%, P = .002); increased LDL cholesterol from 139 to 147 mg/dL (6%, P ≤ .001); and did not affect levels of HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, or blood pressure. At low carbohydrate content, the low– compared with high–glycemic index level did not affect the outcomes except for decreasing triglycerides from 91 to 86 mg/dL (−5%, P = .02). In the primary diet contrast, the low–glycemic index, low-carbohydrate diet, compared with the high–glycemic index, high-carbohydrate diet, did not affect insulin sensitivity, systolic blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, or HDL cholesterol but did lower triglycerides from 111 to 86 mg/dL (−23%, P ≤ .001). 
  
 Conclusions and Relevance In this 5-week controlled feeding study, diets with low glycemic index of dietary carbohydrate, compared with high glycemic index of dietary carbohydrate, did not result in improvements in insulin sensitivity, lipid levels, or systolic blood pressure. In the context of an overall DASH-type diet, using glycemic index to select specific foods may not improve cardiovascular risk factors or insulin resistance. 
  
 Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00608049 ||||| If you generally eat a heart-healthy diet, then you might have one fewer factor to worry about: the "glycemic index" of the carbs you eat, new research suggests. 
  
 In a new study, researchers looked at how people's health is affected by the types of carbs they eat, using one measure of carbohydrates called the glycemic index. This index is a number, between 1 and 100, that reflects how much a given carb raises your blood sugar levels. For example, carbs such as apples and oatmeal have a low glycemic index, meaning they raise blood sugar less than carbs with a higher glycemic index, such as white bread and corn flakes. 
  
 The researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School set out to examine whether healthy diets with a low glycemic index would provide more heart health benefits compared with similarly healthy diets that have a higher glycemic index. [5 Diets That Fight Diseases] 
  
 The researchers gave special diets to 163 overweight men and women for five weeks, and tracked their blood pressure, cholesterol levels and sensitivity to insulin. The participants were on four different diets that all contained the same number of calories, but two were high in carbohydrates and two were low in carbohydrates. Among the two that were high in carbs, one had a high glycemic index and the other had a low index. Similarly, of the two diets that were low in carbs, one had a high glycemic index and the other had a low one. 
  
 The results showed that the glycemic index of the diet didn't matter. The participants on diets with a low glycemic index did not have improvements in their insulin sensitivity, cholesterol levels or blood pressure during the study, according to the findings published today (Dec. 16) in the journal JAMA. 
  
 "We were really surprised," says co-author Dr. Lawrence Appel, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins. "We did not detect any clear benefit of the low glycemic index diets on the major risk factors for heart disease, and we found no evidence of benefit for diabetes prevention." 
  
 All four diets in the study were based on the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. The DASH diet is designed to help treat or prevent high blood pressure by reducing people's salt intake and including foods rich in nutrients that help lower blood pressure, such as potassium, calcium and magnesium. 
  
 "The unexpected findings" of the study suggest that the concept of glycemic index is less important than previously thought," Dr. Robert Eckel, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study. "These findings should therefore direct attention back to the importance of maintaining an overall heart-healthy lifestyle, including diet pattern," he said. 
  
 An overall heart-healthy lifestyle includes the basic rules that most people already know, Appel said. "Don't drink sugar-sweetened drinks. Try to eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Try to avoid sweets, salt and foods high in saturated and trans fats. People who follow these principles will reap the benefits," he said. 
  
 Email Bahar Gholipour. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science. |||||

Summary:
– Eating too many carbohydrates is largely considered to be bad for our health—leading to weight gain, higher cholesterol levels, and more heart disease risk factors. But when people follow a low-carb diet, the types of carbs they eat may not be so important, finds a new study out of Harvard and Johns Hopkins published this week in the journal JAMA. Following the highly regimented diets of 163 participants (each assigned to one of four diets, all of which contained the same calories but had different carbs), researchers were surprised to find that when overall carb levels were low, the glycemic level of the carbs consumed didn't seem to matter, reports LiveScience. Some argue that low glycemic diets, with lots of whole grains and low-starch veggies, are better for blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity. But the New York Times reports that the new findings suggest that low glycemic diets actually worsened insulin sensitivity. "The dogma out there is that a high glycemic index is bad," a former president of the American Heart Association not involved in the study tells the Times. "I hope that ultimately the glycemic index will be left on the shelf." Still, the findings only relate to short-term health effects and didn't take into account the effects on the growing population of adults with Type 2 diabetes. (Diets low in carbs overall also appear to lower blood pressure.)