Glycemic Index of (Zummita) A Commonly Barley Based Consumed Traditional Libyan Food

Abstract

In Libya especially in Benghazi, Zummita is a traditional Libyan food consisting of 85% whole barley flour and is commonly consumed as a breakfast meal, and. Due to an increase in Type 2 diabetes and a lack of information on the effects of Zummita consumption on glycemic response, this study was performed to determine the glycemic index (GI) of Zummita. Fasted healthy subjects (6 males and 6 females) volunteered to consume either glucose or Zummita. The blood glucose concentrations were analyzed using capillary blood samples immediately before, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min after glucose or Zummita consumption. The GI value of Zummita was calculated by expressing the incremental area under the blood glucose response curve (IAUC) value for Zummita as a percentage of each subject’s average IAUC value for the glucose. The GI value of Zummita was found as 46.90 ± 7.56. This result indicates that Zummita should be classified as low GI food. More importantly, our result provides the GI value of a Libyan traditional food which was not determined previously. This valuable information will be significant for management and the prevention of diabetes mellitus in Libya and other countries having similar food tradition.