Do Sri Lankan meals help decrease blood glucose response?

Abstract

Objective The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) has rapidly increased in Asian countries including Sri Lanka during the past decade. Scientific data on postprandial glycaemic influence of common meals is essential when formulating diets. Objectives of this study were to analyse glycaemic indices (GI) of five common meals and effects of macronutrients, sources of carbohydrates, and physicochemical properties of starch on observed GI values. Design The meals analysed were; 1-red rice (AT 353) meal, 2-red rice mixed meal, 3-stringhopper (wheat flour) meal, 4-stringhopper (rice flour) meal, 5-manioc (Manihot esculenta) meal. Setting University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Subjects Healthy individuals (n=10; age: 20-30 years). Measurements GI of each meal was calculated according to FAO/WHO guidelines by taking the ratio of incremental area under blood glucose curve (IAUC) of test and the standard. Results GI of meals 1-5 were 99±10, 60±5, 104±7, 102±11 and 120±9 respectively. The glycaemic response to rice mixed meal was significantly lower (p<0.05) than the others. The total dietary fibre content showed a significant negative correlation (p=0.044) with the GI value while the protein showed a non-significant negative relationship (p>0.05). Red rice had a combination of intact, swollen and disintegrated starch granules while string hoppers and manioc showed only the latter two types. Conclusion The rice mixed meal has the lowest glycaemic index. Presence of dietary fibre and a legume reduces the glycaemic response. Cooking may change the glycaemic response of certain food.

Rice variety and processing: contribution to glycaemic response

“…The differences in starch structure in different rice varieties may contribute to the differences in GI. Hettiaratchi et al, had shown that accompanying foods could reduce the the GI of a rice meal [4]. In this study rice was served with coconut sambol (25g).…”

“…Patients with metabolic disorders such as diabetes or hyperlipidaemia are recommended low-GI diets which give rise to a low and slow glycaemic response thus avoiding sudden fluctuations in the glycaemic response [2,3]. Despite being the staple food and the major contributor to carbohydrate intake, little data is available on the GI of local rice varieties [4][5][6][7]. Recently GI data on two imported basmati varieties available in the Sri Lankan market was reported [8].…”

“…Research on red rice meals concluded that the glycaemic response of the meals showed a significant negative correlation with the dietary fibre content. However, the dietary fibre in the red rice meal was from multiple sources of accompaniments in the meal [4].…”

Dietary Habits of Type 2 Diabetes Patients: Variety and Frequency of Food Intake

“…High glycaemic index (GI) meals like bread [15], short eats, string hoppers [16], pittu (a steam cooked food made with rice flour and coconut), and so forth [17] are consumed by 17.8% for ≥5 days/week as breakfast while 8.9% consumed boiled legumes (low GI [17]) for breakfast. Consumption of rice meal as breakfast for all 7 days of the week was by 45.5%.…”

“…Consumption of high GI foods (white bread [15] and string hoppers [16], etc.) for dinner was by 13.3% (for 3 or more than 3 days/week) while only 4.4% relies on light diets (soup/soup with biscuits/biscuits with milk/small portion of a main meal/fresh fruits or vegetables, etc.)…”