Summary of Key Points
In the past two years, low-GI foods have become extremely popular in supermarkets and e-commerce platforms, ranging from crispy snacks to honey and corn—almost everything can be labeled as low-GI. These products, which come with a low-GI label, are 40%-60% more expensive than their regular counterparts yet remain popular among middle-income consumers. However, there is a common misconception among buyers: they equate low-GI with “healthy” or “low-calorie.” In reality, the GI value only reflects the speed at which blood sugar rises and has nothing to do with the total calorie content. Currently, the low-GI market is plagued by certification chaos (lack of unified national standards and varying quality of third-party certifications), with many high-sugar, high-fat products using these labels to charge a higher price. Fortunately, as the country is about to introduce unified national GI measurement standards, the industry will undergo a reshuffle, and only products that truly meet health criteria will survive.
Detailed Explanation
1. Why have low-GI foods become so popular among middle-income shoppers?
The rise in popularity of low-GI foods is essentially a combination of “health anxiety” and a preference for convenience.
- A simple explanation of GI: GI (Glycemic Index) measures the speed at which blood sugar rises after consuming food. Foods that cause a rapid increase in blood sugar, such as white rice and cakes, have a high GI, while those that cause a slower rise, like vegetables and brown rice, have a low GI.
- Consumer psychology: People are concerned about high blood sugar and weight gain but don’t want to change their habits of eating snacks or rice. Merchants capitalize on this by claiming that “you don’t need to change your habits; just spend more for the ‘healthy version,’” which resonates with middle-income consumers who want to control their sugar intake without much effort.
- Merchants’ motivation: Adding a low-GI label allows them to charge significantly higher prices. For example, a low-GI ear of corn at Sam’s Club costs 7.5 yuan, while regular corn at the market is only 1-2 yuan; Beichun’s low-GI multi-grain rice is 30% more expensive than its regular version, yet it still sells well. This “high premium + high sales volume” model has encouraged many merchants to follow suit.
2. The biggest misconception: Low-GI does not equal low-calorie!
Many people mistakenly believe that low-GI foods are healthier, but this is a significant misunderstanding:
- GI does not account for calories: GI only considers the speed of blood sugar rise and does not take into account fat, sugar content, or total calorie count. For instance, a certain low-GI crispy snack may be fried, containing 21.1 grams of fat per 100 grams (more than regular crispy snacks), and a low-GI snack may have 2054 kilojoules of calories per 100 grams—two pieces of such a snack could equal the calories from a full meal, making it quite unhealthy.
- Consumer confusion: A survey by the Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission found that 89.5% of people are aware of low-GI, but only 13.8% truly understand its meaning; 48.8% believe that low-GI foods are good for blood sugar control, yet only 10.4% check for authoritative certifications. Merchants exploit this confusion to sell high-sugar, high-fat products at higher prices.
3. Certification chaos: Who can use the low-GI label?
The low-GI market is highly regulated, but the main issue is the lack of uniform standards:
- Lack of national standards: In late 2025, the National Certification and Accreditation Administration suspended the certification process for low-GI foods, forcing merchants to rely on third-party evaluations. As a result, certification labels vary greatly, with some including the name of the evaluating institution and a certificate number, while others simply display “low-GI” without any supporting documentation.
- High cost of genuine certifications: Genuine low-GI certifications require human blood sugar tests, which are time-consuming and expensive. Given the current surge in low-GI products, many likely go through the process for formality’s sake or are even fake.
- Variable GI values: The same food can have different GI values depending on how it is prepared. For example, millet rice has a GI of 64 (moderate), but when cooked into porridge, its GI rises to 94 (high). Steamed buns are high-GI, but eating them with some vegetables can slow down the rise in blood sugar. Therefore, relying solely on the “low-GI” label on packaging is not always reliable.
4. The industry is about to be restructured: With new standards, fake low-GI products will fall out of favor?
Good news is that the chaotic growth of the low-GI market is coming to an end:
- Official regulation: In July this year, the China Consumer News highlighted the issues with low-GI labels, and a draft national standard for measuring and labeling food GI was released. Future standards will clarify what constitutes a low-GI value and how it should be tested.
- Smarter consumers: More people are paying attention to ingredient lists and nutritional information, no longer blindly trusting product labels. When buying low-GI foods, they check for authoritative certifications and high-fat, high-sugar content.
- Industry trends: True low-GI products will focus on using advanced methods (such as genetic sequencing to develop low-GI ingredients) or creating truly healthy daily foods (like low-GI noodles and rice), rather than simply re-labeling existing high-sugar snacks.
In the future, brands that rely on misleading labels will be eliminated, and only genuine, healthy products will remain in the market.
In conclusion
Low-GI itself is not a form of “intellectual tax” (i.e., overcharging for no real health benefit), but fake low-GI products certainly are. With the introduction of national standards and increased consumer awareness, the low-GI market will become more regulated. The era of making quick profits through misleading labels is coming to an end.