Abstract
Background: Viscous dietary fibers including oat β-glucan are one of the most effective classes of functional food ingredients for reducing postprandial blood glucose. The mechanism of action is thought to be via an increase in viscosity of the stomach contents that delays gastric emptying and reduces mixing of food with digestive enzymes, which, in turn, retards glucose absorption. Previous studies suggest that taking viscous fibers separate from a meal may not be effective in reducing postprandial glycemia. Methods: We aimed to re-assess the effect of consuming a preload of a commercially available oat-bran (4.5, 13.6 or 27.3 g) containing 22% of high molecular weight oat β-glucan (O22 (OatWell®22)) mixed in water before a test-meal of white bread on glycemic responses in 10 healthy humans. Results: We found a significant effect of dose on blood glucose area under the curve (AUC) (p = 0.006) with AUC after 27.3 g of O22 being significantly lower than white bread only. Linear regression analysis showed that each gram of oat β-glucan reduced glucose AUC by 4.35% ± 1.20% (r = 0.507, p = 0.0008, n = 40) and peak rise by 6.57% ± 1.49% (r = 0.582, p < 0.0001). Conclusion: These data suggest the use of oat bran as nutritional preload strategy in the management of postprandial glycemia.
Highlights
In current obesogenic societies with many people having mild or moderate hyperglycemia, postprandial blood glucose patterns account for the majority of variability of overall glycemic control [1,2]
There was a significant effect of dose on blood glucose area under the curve (AUC) (p = 0.006) with AUC after 27.3 g of OatWell® 22 (O22) (141 ± 21 mmol × min/L) being significantly lower than both the 4.5 g and 0 g doses (174 ± 1 7 and 185 ± mmol × min/L, respectively) and the AUC after 13.6 g being intermediate (167 ± mmol × min/L)
Linear regression analysis showed that each gram of oat β-glucan reduced glucose AUC by 4.35% ± 1.20% (r = 0.507, p = 0.0008, n = 40; Figure 1B)
Summary
In current obesogenic societies with many people having mild or moderate hyperglycemia, postprandial blood glucose patterns account for the majority of variability of overall glycemic control [1,2]. This is not surprising considering that most individuals spend perhaps only about three to four hours before breakfast in a truly fasted state [1,3]. Viscous dietary fibers including high molecular weight (HMW) oat β-glucan are one of the most effective classes of functional food ingredients for reducing postprandial glucose [4]. Viscous dietary fibers including oat β-glucan are one of the most effective classes of functional food ingredients for reducing postprandial blood glucose.
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