A low glycemic index is preferred. High glycemic index means the food causes blood sugar levels to take a sharp increase. The body reacts by producing insulin to store the suger (as fat) until the level is back to normal. The spiked insulin provokes formation of bad cholesterol and bad prostoglandins that cause inflammation, clotting and pain.
A low glycemic index food puts sugar into the blood stream at a slow rate so that it can be utilized for energy with forcing the body into dealing with a sudden excess.
The body deals with repeated spikes of insulin by becoming less sensitive to the body's natural insulin. In time this progresses to Type II diabetes. External supplementation with oral or injected insulin becomes necessary to force the body to extract the excess sugar from the blood stream. Failure to do so provokes a number of nasty side effects. Blobs of protein ane sugar form sticky little balls called advanced glycosylated end-products. These sticky balls can clog tiny blood vessels in the eyes causing blindness. Another effect is stiffening of the red blood cell wall. The red blood cell is no longer flexible enough to deform and pass into the small capillaries. The outward effect is death of nerve cells at the tips of fingers and toes from lack of oxygen. As this progresses, a form of gangrene sets in. The tissues in the fingers and toes can die and require amputation.
Choose what goes in your mouth carefully. Diabetes sucks. Type II is avoidable. Type I is believed to be an auto-immune disease provoked by a leaky gut. Young children exposed to cow's milk will leak some bovine protein into the blood stream. The body mounts a defense against the foreign protein, but ends up attacking the pancreas by mistake. The pancreas is usually a lost cause by about age five, thus "juvenile" diabetes.
That's a mine of information! You've scared me to death with that, but it was very informative. Thanks!
A mine of information, indeed.