INTRODUCTION

The glycemic index is a method of classifying

food based on the response of the consumer
s blood glucose concentration relative to a
starchy food.

The objective of the study was to determine

the glycemic index of sunfibre products in
normal and diabetic.

The study determined the effect of

increasing levels of sunfibre in white bread
and rice, as well as sunfibre taken as a drink
with white bread, on the glycemic index of
normal and diabetic subjects.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

SUBJECTS
A total of 11 normal and nine diabetic
subjects.

Criteria:
NORMAL SUBJECTS

DIABETIC SUBJECTS

BMI: 20 - 25kg/m2
FBS: 4 - 7 mol/L

FBS: 7.5 11.0 mol/L

Age: 35 - 60 years

Age: 35 - 60 years

No physical defect and nonsmokers

No intake of drugs, no complications

and non-smokers

TEST FOODS
The control/standard food was white bread.
Formulation
334g flour
4g salt
5g yeast
7g sucrose
330mL water per 250g carbohydrate loaf.

The test foods were prepared as follows:

A) White bread with 3, 5, 10 and 15g of
sunfibre of viscosity 1 and 5g of sunfibre of
viscosity 2.
B) 62.3g servings of rice were boiled with
water; rice with 3g and 5g of sunfibre viscosity
1 were cooked similarly to rice alone.
C) Sunfibre and other fibre sources such as
insoluble dextrin and insulin taken as a drink
were dissolved in 250 mL water at room
temperature and drunk with white bread.

PROTOCOL OF THE STUDY

Using a randomized cross over design, the
control and test foods were fed randomly on
separate occasions after an overnight fast (1012
h).

Feeding of white bread and test foods were

repeated twice.

A standard glucose solution was only given to the

normalsubjects; this was to determine the
glycemic index of white bread.

Blood samples of approximately 0.3 0.4mL,

wete collected by using the finger prick
technique before and after feeding.

For normal subjects, samples were collected

at 0 h and every 15 min after feeding for 1 h
and every 30 min for the next hour

Form diabetic subjects, samples were

collected at 0 h and at 30 min intervals after
feeking for a period of 3 h.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences

between the normal and diabetic subjects in
age or BMI.

Significant
differences
were
observed
between subjects for the fasting blood sugar,
diabetic (9.1 0.7 mmol/L) subjects were
significantly greater than the normal (5.2
0.1 mmol/L) subjects (P < 0.05).

Table 3. Glycemic index (GI) of test foods in

normal and diabetic subjects

The glycemic index of white bread and rice

with sunfibre ranged from 49 to 67 for
normal subjects and 53 to 78 for diabetic
subjects.

The glycemic index of all test foods did not

differ significantly between normal and
diabetic subjects except for white bread +5g
sunfibre taken as a drink.

DISCUSSION

The result showed that equal portions of

carbohydrates from different test foods do
no have the same glycemic effect when
compared between both normal and diabetic
subjects.

The amount of dietary fibre present in the

test foods may have caused a significant
reduction in the glycemic index.