Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
blood glucose response in comparison with intact whole grains of oats. The
effect of food processing on glycemic response has also been well researched
effect of increased starch gelatinization by food disruption on glycemic
response in healthy subjects. They believed that oat and barley flakes pre-
pared by incomplete gelatinization will lower the glycemic response. But,
although there were differences between barley and oats, both the thin
and thick flakes resulted in high glycemic response (
Granfeldt, Eliasson,
et al., 2000
). Most of the breakfast cereals have a high GI as reported in
the International Table of GI and GL values. But, simple changes to the
processing methods could change their rate of starch gelatinization resulting
in slow-release breakfast cereals.
Although oats has high fat content, research has shown that the glycemic
response attributed to oats is not dependent on the fat content
(
Tuomasjukka, Viitanen, & Kallio, 2007
)
. They tested the effect of rolled
oats, defatted rolled oats, rolled whole wheat cereal, and rolled whole wheat
cereal with oat fat in healthy subjects. The rolled oats had 6.1% fat compared
with 2.1% in wheat and defatted oat cereals. All the products had similar gly-
cemic response suggesting that fat in oats has no role in its low-GI value.
Research in the 1990s by Tappy et al. looked at the use of oat bran-
enriched breakfast cereals with 4, 6, and 8 g of
b
-glucan in type 2 diabetes
subjects. They found an inverse relationship between the dose of
b
-glucan
and the glucose AUC in addition to the decrease in insulin compared to a
control continental breakfast (
Tappy Gugolz, & Wursch 1996
)
. Long-term
studies in type 2 diabetics lasting for 12 weeks were also carried out by using
bread products with oat bran concentrate containing around 22%
b
-glucan.
Both glycemic and insulin responses were improved at the end of the inter-
vention period by the well-accepted bread products (
Pick et al., 1996
)
.
Martini, et al. (2002)
went on to quantify the extent of GI lowering on a
wt. by wt. basis of
b
-glucan from oat products. Using two functional food
products in the form of oat
b
-glucan-rich breakfast cereal and bar containing
in comparison with a commercial oat-based cereal, they found that for each
1gof
b
-glucan, the GI of foods could be lowered by approximately 4 units.
This study in type 2 diabetes subjects resulted in low GI for both the prod-
ucts and demonstrated the potential of using this fiber-rich ingredient for
management of blood glucose in type 2 diabetic subjects (
Jenkins,
