Effect of an Optimized Savory Cluster on Glycemic and Insulinemic Responses in Healthy Individuals: a Randomized, Cross‐over Study

Abstract

Postprandial glycemia has been implicated in the development of chronic metabolic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. Foods with high contents of slowly digestible starch elicit lower glycemic responses have been proposed as better choices to help decrease postprandial glucose excursions and thus to improve glycemic control and health, For this reason, there is a growing interest in developing foods with slowly digestible starch, particularly for snacks. A low moisture, low temperature process was developed to produce a savory cluster snack (test‐cluster) containing nuts and grains and bound together with wheat starch and soluble fiber which is slowly digested in‐vitro. The objective of this study was to compare the glucose and insulin responses elicited by the test‐cluster to those of a control‐cluster made with ingredients commonly used in commercially available snacks or bars including oats, peanuts, puffed rice and corn syrup and an available‐carbohydrate matched portion of white‐bread in healthy subjects. Healthy men and women (n=25) were studied on 3 occasions using a randomized, cross‐over design. After 2 fasting finger‐prick blood samples, subjects consumed 1 serving (56g) of the test‐ or control‐cluster or 47g white‐bread and had blood glucose and serum insulin measured at intervals over the next 4 hr. Each serving of test‐cluster, control‐cluster and white‐bread, respectively, contained: 5, 5 and 4g protein; 12, 11 and 0.5g fat; 24, 33 and 24g available‐carbohydrate; and 10, 2 and 1g dietary fiber. The blood‐glucose peak‐rise and incremental area under the curve (AUC) after test‐cluster were significantly lower than those after both control‐cluster and white‐bread (mean±SEM; peak‐rise, 1.24±0.09 vs 2.27±0.13 and 2.27±0.16 mmol/L; AUC, 67±8 vs 117±10 and 114±9, respectively). The serum‐insulin peak‐rise and AUC after test‐cluster, 128±13 pmol/L and 6.10±0.73 nmol×min/L, were similar to those after white bread, 141±20 pmol/L and 6.47±1.11 nmol×min/L, but significantly less than those after the control‐cluster, 205±26 pmol/L and 9.60±1.31 nmol×min/L. It is concluded that a serving of test‐cluster elicits lower glucose and insulin responses than a serving of a similar control‐cluster. The results support the hypothesis that the carbohydrates in the test‐cluster are slowly digested and absorbed in‐vivo.Support or Funding InformationThis study is funded by PepsiCo, Inc.