The Insulin Load

The next step in the evolution of these carbohydrate ranking systems is the Insulin Load (IL). The IL is a measure used to quantify the amount of insulin the pancreas releases in response to various foods – remarkably not just carbohydrates. The IL is similar to the GI and GL but instead of measuring how much blood sugar levels rise, the IL measures how quickly blood insulin levels rise. The higher the score on the IL – the more insulin released (the more insulin released the more cells are stimulated to absorb sugar – including fat cells).