Glycemic Response to Common Serving Size of Selected Carbohydrate Rich Foods

Abstract

Dietary management of obesity largely focuses on the quality and quantity of carbohydrate (CHO) intake to maintain blood sugar levels close to normal. The index that measures the effect of type and amount of food on metabolic response is postprandial glycemia. Glycemic response to specific food quality and quantity affects the postprandial metabolic pathways leading to carbohydrate utilization and fat storage. In the present study, to classify food according to their hyperglycemic quality, glycemic response to equi-quantity of commonly consumed carbohydrate, rich foods were compared with that of white bread (reference) in healthy volunteers. Venous blood samples were drawn in the fasting state (0 min) and at 30, 60, 90 and 120 min after consuming 100g portions of the test food and white bread. Glycemic Bread Equivalent (GBE), which reflects the weight of bread that would induce a glycemic response equal to that induced by the test food, was highest for biscuit (167g), followed by Chapatti (122g), Puffed rice (67g), Potato (52g), and least for Rice (20g). GBE/100g values have been used to calculate the predicted glycemic response to common serving sizes of the selected foods. While, expressed in GBE/serving size (GBE/SS), the sequence of hyperglycemic impact changed to be highest for one medium potato, followed by one medium wheat Chapatti, one cup of Rice, two biscuits and least for one cup puffed rice. These values are of significance in identifying foods that result in prolonged postprandial hyperglycemia leading to increased insulin demand and subsequent fat storage.