Abstract
The physicochemical and physiological properties of five commonly consumed cowpea cultivars in Nigeria were assessed. The cultivars examined included Sokoto, Patasco, Iron beans, Isiocha and Ife brown. Ife brown had the most interesting physiochemical properties. It had the highest blue value index of 51.2, highest emulsion capacity of 3.5 g/g and the shortest cooking time of 30 min. Sokoto took the longest cooking time of 62 min. The cowpeas had glycemic responses ranging from 131.4 to 227.5 mg/dL against 369.5 mg/dL for white bread. The values for the glycemic index (GI) of the cultivars were on the low side (0–55) with the exception of Patasco, which had an intermediate GI of 61.57. Ife brown was found to exhibit a defined sinusoidal blood glucose curve. The incremental area under the blood glucose curve for Ife brown was also the smallest (P = 0.05) among the cultivars. This indicated, within the limit of this experiment, that this cultivar exerted the least stress on metabolic blood sugars of volunteers. Ife brown is considered the best in terms of managing physiological changes in blood sugar.
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