glycaemic index

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glycaemic index The ability of a carbohydrate to increase blood glucose, compared with the same amount of glucose: the increase in blood glucose over 2 hours after ingesting 50 g of available carbohydrate, expressed as a percentage of that after 50 g of glucose or (sometimes) bread or potato. Glycaemic load is the product of multiplying the amount of carbohydrate in the food by the glycaemic index.