Glycaemic index

The glycaemic index measures how quickly and how steeply blood sugar rises after a carbohydrate-containing food is eaten. A high glycaemic index means a fast, sharp spike, while a low index means a slower, gentler rise. Borrowed from human nutrition, the concept is increasingly studied in dogs and cats because controlling the blood-sugar response is useful for weight management and for diabetes. A food's glycaemic response is not just about how much carbohydrate it contains; it depends on the nature of the [starch](/glossary/starch), the carbohydrate source, how thoroughly it is cooked and gelatinised, the [fibre](/glossary/fibre) content and how starch interacts with protein. As a concrete benchmark, dog studies have found that cooked white rice produces a markedly higher glycaemic response than cooked green lentils, illustrating how much the source matters even at similar carbohydrate levels (peer-reviewed veterinary literature). More extensive cooking raises the digestible-starch fraction and tends to push the index up, while fibre and legume-based ingredients tend to pull it down. For diabetic cats and dogs, these parameters are factored into the dietary strategy under veterinary supervision, often favouring lower-glycaemic formulations. The glycaemic index is closely tied to the discussion of complex versus simple carbohydrates. See the [Petipedia glossary](/glossary) for related entries.

Petipedia · Editorial team

General documentary information. For an individual animal, a veterinarian's advice takes precedence over any online content.