Delayed gastric emptying rate may explain improved glycaemia in healthy subjects to a starchy meal with added vinegar

Abstract

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).

Vinegar dressing and cold storage of potatoes lowers postprandial glycaemic and insulinaemic responses in healthy subjects

“…However, the lowered available starch content per se does not explain the lowered GI (Jenkins et al, 1987;Wolever, 1990;Raben et al, 1994;Björck et al, 2000). The mechanism by which organic acids reduce glycaemia and insulinaemia to, for example, white bread and rice (Liljeberg & Björck, 1998;Sugiyama et al, 2003) is not fully understood. In the case of acetic acid, the magnitude of reduction in glycaemia may be as much as 35%, depending on the level of acetic acid.…”

“…In the case of acetic acid, the magnitude of reduction in glycaemia may be as much as 35%, depending on the level of acetic acid. Brighenti et al (1995) suggested that the acetic acid caused an inhibition of the amylases whereas others have found evidence of a delay in gastric emptying rate (Liljeberg & Björck, 1998). The studies mentioned above have been performed in healthy subjects.…”

“…Acetic acid has thus been shown to suppress disaccharidase activity in Caco-2 cells (human colonic carcinoma cells) (Ogawa et al, 2000) and to activate gluconeogenesis and induce glycogenesis in the rat liver after a fasting state (Fushimi et al, 2001). Although it has been established that the presence of acetic acid in a meal delays the gastric emptying rate and thus reduce postprandial glycaemia (Ebihara & Nakajima, 1988;Liljeberg & Björck, 1998), more studies are needed to elucidate to what extent other physiological mechanisms also may be involved and affect glucose metabolism.…”

“…In a study by Liljeberg & Björck (1998) Improved glycaemia and insulinaemia to cold stored and pickled potatoes M Leeman et al white vinegar corresponding to 18 mmol/50 g available carbohydrates was served to white wheat bread together with 8 g olive oil. The GI and II of the vinegar supplemented white bread meal were calculated to 64 and 65, respectively.…”

“…Both Brighenti et al (1995) and Liljeberg and Björck (1998) found a significant lowering of the glycaemic responses in healthy subjects when adding acetic acid, in the form of vinegar, to starchy meals. Furthermore, vinegar addition to a test meal composed of a white bagel, butter and orange juice was shown to improve acute postprandial insulin sensitivity in insulin resistant subjects (Johnston et al, 2004), as measured using the procedure by Matsuda and DeFronzo (1999).…”