A recurrent question is, should type 2 diabetics worry about the GI of foods? The short answer is, not if they have a handle on the more important stuff such as macronutrition targets (including total amount of carbs, of course) within the context of a diet predominated by whole & minimally refined foods. When you have those elements down, GI has negligible relevance. Forest for the trees, as it were. A recent review by Vega-López et al conveys important findings & practical points on this topic:
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“This review examines evidence from randomized, controlled trials and observational studies in humans for short-term (e.g., satiety) and long-term (e.g., weight, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes) health effects associated with different types of GI diets. [...] At the public level, the concepts of GI and GL are generally misunderstood. Moreover, the large intra- and interindividual variability in glycemic responses to a food, coupled with the diversity of GI values reported for some comparable foods, suggests that making dietary recommendations based on GI may be misleading, especially since low GI does not always mean high nutritional value, and high GI foods, such as potato, may have other healthful qualities including low energy density and a high satiety rating. Thus, focusing on overall dietary quality and promoting the healthful aspects of the diet (e.g., dietary fiber and fruit and vegetable intake) may be a better approach to help reduce chronic disease risk.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30249012/
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Another recurrent question was about GI and satiety. Niwano et al present the lack of reliable utility of GI in this regard as well:
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“...low-GI foods may not necessarily increase satiety or suppress appetite and/or hunger because of the lack of insulin-mediated leptin stimulation and ghrelin suppression. However, insulin-mediated leptin stimulation and ghrelin suppression per se is not consistent among studies”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19602827/
