On the Verge of a GI Frenzy?

by Julian Mellentin

Another development that could signal a new trend is the decision by Tesco, one of the world’s biggest food retailers, with stores in markets as far-flung as China and the Czech Republic, to have 250 of the own-label products it retails in the UK tested and labelled as low or medium GI. Tesco believes that GI will be a valuable tool not only for diabetics but for everyone interested in weight management — a company spokesperson referring to it as ‘the new Atkins.’

Ron Bailey, an acknowledged expert on the Japanese functional food market, noted in a recent conference address that there has recently been an upsurge of interest in Japan in products that control blood glucose and highlighted that, in 2003, an unprecedented 12 per cent of the products granted health claims under Japan’s FOSHU regulatory system were for the claim, ‘Good for those who have high blood pressure.’

On the other side of the world, Markku Patajoki, general manager of the oat business unit of Finn Cereal, Finland’s biggest cereal company, recently told New Nutrition Business that the future for oats lies in the GI concept; hence his company had made a strategic decision to focus on promoting its oat ingredients with the GI concept, putting the better-known cholesterol-lowering message into second place.

In the US meanwhile, the appearance of a number of ‘low GI’ bars at the recent Natural Products Expo East tradeshow in Washington, DC, notably those of Alberta, Canada-based Solo GI Nutrition, provoked a frenzy of interest among visitors to the show.

In a sense GI makes a logical locus of interest, particularly in the wake of America’s low-carb frenzy, since many low-carb diets are in effect also low-GI diets, even if only as a result of avoiding all carbohydrates, even those with low GIs. Where GI communications seem to score is that the term ‘low GI’ can be said to be, according to professor Jeya Henry of Oxford Brookes University: “a shorthand for healthy foods” — an easy-to-understand symbol for foods that contribute to a healthy diet.

* Mellentin, Julian. “What lies ahead in 2005.” Functional Foods & Nutraceuticals January 2005: 18-21.

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