Carbohydrate foods differ considerably in their effects on postprandial glucose and insulin responses. Qualitative differences among starchy foods are particularly intriguing because of the dominance of starch in human diets. This paper focuses on food properties in cereal (eg, pasta, bread, Arepas, and porridge) and legume products (eg, red kidney beans and lentils) that affect metabolic responses to starch. Studies in healthy subjects have found that postprandial blood glucose and insulin responses are greatly affected by food structure. Any process that disrupts the physical or botanical structure of food ingredients will increase the plasma glucose and insulin responses. The glycemic responses to bread products were reduced by the use of ingredients with an intact botanical or physical structure or a high amylose content or by enrichment with viscous dietary fiber. However, the important of a moderate increase in the amylose-amylopectin ratio and the naturally occurring levels of viscous cereal fiber is less clear. The rate of starch digestion in vitro was shown to be a key determinant of metabolic responses to most products. Assuming the sample preparation mimics chewing, in vitro enzymic procedures can be used to facilitate ranking. One such procedure, based on chewed rather than artificially disintegrated products, was recently developed and correlates well with glycemic and insulinemic indices for several starchy foods.

Accumulating data indicate that a diet characterized by low glycaemic-index (GI) foods not only improves certain metabolic ramifications of insulin resistance, but also reduces insulin resistance per se. Epidemiological data also suggest a protective role against development of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. A major disadvantage in this connection is the shortage of low-GI foods, and many common starchy staple foods, such as bread products, breakfast cereals and potato products, have a high GI. Studies in our laboratory show that it is possible to significantly lower the GI of starchy foods, for example by choice of raw material and/or by optimizing the processing conditions. Such low-GI foods may or may not influence glucose tolerance at a subsequent meal. Consequently, certain low-GI breakfasts capable of maintaining a net increment in blood glucose and insulin at the time of the next meal significantly reduced post-prandial glycaemia and insulinaemia following a standardized lunch meal, whereas others had no 'second-meal' impact. These results imply that certain low-GI foods may be more efficient in modulating metabolism in the long term. Although the literature supports a linear correlation between the GI and insulinaemic index (II) of foods, this is not always the case. Consequently, milk products elicited elevated IIs, indistinguishable from a white bread reference meal, despite GIs in the lower range. This inconsistent behaviour of milk products has not been acknowledged, and potential metabolic consequences remain to be elucidated.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the possible in¯uence of acetic acid (administered as vinegar) on the postprandial glucose and insulin responses, and the potential involvement of a modi®ed gastric emptying rate was studied by use of paracetamol as a marker. Design: The white bread reference meal as well as the corresponding meal supplemented with vinegar had the same content of starch, protein and fat. The meals were served in the morning after an over-night fast and in random order. Capillary blood samples for analysis of glucose, insulin and paracetamol were collected postprandially. Setting: The study was performed at the Department of Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry, Lund University, Sweden. Subjects: Ten healthy volunteers, seven women and three men, aged 22± 51 y, with normal body mass indices were recruited. Results: The presence of acetic acid, given as vinegar, signi®cantly reduced the postprandial glucose (GI 64) and insulin responses (II 65) to a starchy meal. As judged from lowered paracetamol levels after the test meal with vinegar, the mechanism is probably a delayed gastric emptying rate. Conclusions: Fermented foods or food products with added organic acids should preferably be included in the diet in order to reduce glycaemia and insulin demand. Sponsorship: Cerealia Foundation for Research and Development (project no. 232).

Glucose tolerance can improve in a single day. Slow absorption and digestion of starch from the breakfast meal, but not the content of indigestible carbohydrates in the breakfast meal, improved glucose tolerance at the second meal (lunch).

The possible effects of organic acids or an organic salt on the rate of gastric emptying was studied to identify the cause for reduced postmeal responses of blood glucose and insulin to foods containing such components, eg, sourdough bread. Paracetamol was included in bread products with added lactic acid or sodium propionate and used as a marker for the rate of gastric emptying in healthy subjects. In parallel, postprandial glycemia, insulinemia, and satiety were evaluated. The influence of lactic acid, propionic acid, and sodium propionate was also studied in rats after they were tube-fed with glucose solutions. The bread products with lactic acid or sodium propionate both lowered blood glucose and insulin responses. The bread with sodium propionate also prolonged satiety. The reason for the lowered metabolic responses with sodium propionate was probably a lowered gastric emptying rate, as judged from reduced blood paracetamol concentrations; there was no such effect observed with bread with added lactic acid. A similar amount of lactic acid in solution tube-fed to rats did not affect the disappearance of glucose from the stomach. In contrast with the finding in humans, sodium propionate had no effect on the rate of gastric emptying in rats whereas an equimolar solution of propionic acid reduced gastric emptying rate in rats. Possibly, less of this acid was produced in the gastric contents after a bolus load of a sodium propionate solution (in rats) than in an eating situation. Also, the pH and/or the osmolarity may be important, and when provided in excessive amounts, lactic acid reduced the gastric emptying rate in rats. A hydrochloric acid solution of similar pH was much less effective in this respect.