Dietary glycemic index and glycemic load in relation to changes in body composition measures during adolescence: Northern Ireland Young Hearts Study

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity 2014-02, Vol.38 (2), p.252-258
• Main Authors: Murakami, K, McCaffrey, T A, Gallagher, A M, Neville, C E, Boreham, C A, Livingstone, M B E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 692/699/2743/393; 692/700/2814; Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescents; Biological and medical sciences; Blood Glucose - metabolism; Body composition; Body Composition - physiology; Body fat; Body Mass Index; Body size; Child; Child development; Children & youth; Confidence intervals; Cross-sectional studies; Demographic aspects; Diet; Dietary Carbohydrates - metabolism; Dietary intake; Energy Intake; Epidemiology; Fat-free body mass; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Food intake; Glycemic Index; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humans; Insulin Resistance; Internal Medicine; Male; Measurement; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Northern Ireland; Obesity; Obesity - metabolism; Obesity - physiopathology; Obesity - prevention & control; Obesity in adolescence; original-article; Overweight; Prospective Studies; Puberty - metabolism; Puberty - physiology; Public Health; Risk Factors; Skinfold Thickness; Standard scores; Teenagers
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2013.63

Background: Epidemiologic evidence on the influence of dietary glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) on the development of obesity is limited. Objective: This prospective study examined the associations between dietary GI and GL and changes in body composition measures during adolescence. Design: In a representative sample of Northern Irish adolescents aged 12 years at baseline and 15 years at follow-up ( n =426), dietary intake was assessed by a diet history interview. Body composition measures included body mass index (BMI; kg m −2 ), BMI z -score, sum of four skinfold thicknesses, percentage body fat, fat mass index (FMI; kg m −2 ) and fat-free mass index (kg m −2 ). Results: After adjustment for potential confounding factors, baseline GI was associated with increased change in FMI. Mean (95% confidence interval) values of changes in FMI according to tertiles of baseline GI were 0.41 (0.25, 0.57), 0.42 (0.26, 0.58) and 0.67 (0.51, 0.83) kg m −2 , respectively ( P for trend=0.03). There was no significant association of baseline GI with changes in other body composition measures ( P for trend⩾0.054). Conversely, baseline GL showed no association with changes in any of the measures ( P for trend⩾0.41). Furthermore, changes in GI or GL were not associated with changes in any of the measures ( P for trend⩾0.16). Conclusion: Dietary GI at age 12 years was independently associated with increased change in FMI between ages 12 and 15 years in a representative sample from Northern Ireland, whereas dietary GL showed no association with changes in any of the body composition measures examined.