Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T16:36:56.145Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

African plant foods rich in non-starch polysaccharides reduce postprandial blood glucose and insulin concentrations in healthy human subjects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

Uchenna A. Onyechi ,
Patricia A. Judd  and
Peter R. Ellis
Uchenna A. Onyechi
Affiliation:
Divisions of Life and Health Sciences, King's College London, Kensington Campus, Campden Hill Road, London W8 7AH, UK
Patricia A. Judd
Affiliation:
Divisions of Life and Health Sciences, King's College London, Kensington Campus, Campden Hill Road, London W8 7AH, UK
Peter R. Ellis*
Affiliation:
Divisions of Life and Health Sciences, King's College London, Kensington Campus, Campden Hill Road, London W8 7AH, UK
*
*Corresponding author:Dr Peter R. Ellis, fax +44 (0) 171 333 4082, email [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The effects of two vegetable flours, prepared from the African plants Detarium senegalense Gmelin, a legume, and Cissus rotundifolia, a shrub, on postprandial blood glucose and insulin concentrations in human subjects, were investigated. Chemical analysis indicated that these flours contained significant amounts of NSP. The detarium in particular was found to be a rich source of water-soluble NSP (SNSP). The flours were incorporated into two types of breakfast meal, a stew meal and a wheat bread meal, containing 50 g and 70 g available carbohydrate respectively. Both meals also contained 10–12g NSP, the major fraction of which was SNSP. Control and fibre-rich meals were consumed on separate days in randomized order by two different groups of subjects (n 5, stew meals; n 10, bread meals). Venous blood samples were taken at fasting (0 min) and postprandially at 30 min intervals for 2·5 h and the plasma analysed for glucose and insulin. Compared with the controls, detarium and cissus meals elicited significant reductions (P < 0·006) in plasma glucose levels at most postprandial time points and for area-under-the-curve (AUC) values (AUC reductions 38–62%). Significant reductions (P < 0·002) in plasma insulin levels at various postprandial time points and for AUC values were also seen after detarium and cissus breads (AUC reductions 43 and 36% respectively), but not after the fibre-rich stew meals. SNSP and starch are possibly the main, but not the only, components responsible for the glucose- and insulin-lowering effects of cissus flour. The main SNSP fraction of detarium, identified as a high-molecular-weight xyloglucan, is likely to be a primary factor in determining the physiological activity of detarium flour.

Keywords

Dietary fibreStarchPostprandial carbohydrate metabolism
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 80 , Issue 5 , November 1998 , pp. 419 - 428
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1998

References

Apling, EC & Ellis, PR (1982) Guar bread: concept to application. Chemistry and Industry 23, 950–954.Google Scholar
Balogun, AM & Fetuga, BL (1986) Chemical composition of some under-exploited leguminous crop seeds in Nigeria. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 34, 189–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, S, Onyechi, UA, Judd, PA, Ellis, PR & Ross-Murphy, SB (1993) An investigation of the effects of two indigenous African foods, Detarium microcarpum and Cissus rotundifolia, on rat plasma cholesterol levels. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 52, 372A.Google Scholar
Blackburn, NA, Redfern, JS, Jarjis, H, Holgate, AM, Hanning, I, Scarpello, JHB, Johnson, IT & Read, NW (1984) The mechanism of action of guar gum in improving glucose tolerance in man. Clinical Science 66, 329–336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blake, DE, Hamblett, CJ, Frost, PG, Judd, PA & Ellis, PR (1997) Wheat bread supplemented with depolymerized guar gum reduces plasma cholesterol concentration in hypercholesterolemic human subjects. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 65, 107–113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Braaten, JT, Scott, FW, Wood, PJ, Reidel, KD, Poste, LM & Collins, MW (1994) High β-glucan oat bran and oat gum reduce postprandial blood glucose and insulin in subjects with and without type 2 diabetes. Diabetic Medicine 11, 312–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Braaten, JT, Wood, PJ, Scott, FW, Reidel, KD, Poste, LM & Collins, MW (1992) Oat gum, a soluble fibre which lowers glucose and insulin in normal individuals after an oral glucose load: comparison with guar gum. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 53, 1425–1430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennan, CS, Blake, DE, Ellis, PR & Schofield, JD (1996) Effect of guar galactomannan on wheat bread microstructure and on the in vitro and in vivo digestibility of starch in bread. Journal of Cereal Science 24, 151–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burkitt, DP & Trowell, HC (1975) Refined Carbohydrate Foods and Disease. Some Implications of Dietary Fibre. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Cherbut, C, Albina, E, Champ, M, Doublier, JL & Lecannu, G (1990) Action of guar gum on the viscosity of digestive contents and on gastrointestinal motor function in pigs. Digestion 46, 205–213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collings, P, Williams, C & MacDonald, I (1981) Effects of cooking on serum glucose and insulin responses to starch. British Medical Journal 282, 1032–1033.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colonna, P, Lelou, V & Buléon, A (1992) Limiting factors of starch hydrolysis. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46, Suppl. 2, S17–S32.Google ScholarPubMed
Edwards, CA, Johnson, IT & Read, NW (1988) Do viscous polysaccharides slow absorption by inhibiting diffusion or convection? European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 42, 307–312.Google ScholarPubMed
Ellis, PR (1994) Polysaccharide gums: their modulation of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and role in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. In Gums and Stabilizers for the Food Industry, pp. 207–216 [Philips,, GO, Wedlock, DJ and Williams, PA, editors]. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Ellis, PR, Apling, EC, Leeds, AR & Bolster, NR (1981) Guar bread: acceptability and efficacy combined. Studies on blood glucose, serum insulin and satiety in normal subjects. British Journal of Nutrition 46, 267–276.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis, PR, Dawoud, FM & Morris, ER (1991) Blood glucose, plasma insulin and sensory responses to guar-containing wheat breads: effects of molecular weight and particle size of guar gum. British Journal of Nutrition 66, 363–379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis, PR, Rayment, P & Wang, Q (1996) A physico-chemical perspective of plant polysaccharides in relation to glucose absorption, insulin secretion and the entero-insular axis. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 55, 881–898.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis, PR, Roberts, FG, Low, AG & Morgan, LM (1995) The effect of high-molecular-weight guar gum on net apparent glucose absorption and net apparent insulin and gastric inhibitory poly-peptide production in the growing pig: relationship to rheological changes in jejunal digesta. British Journal of Nutrition 74, 539–556.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Englyst, HN, Kingman, SM & Cummings, JH (1992 a) Classification and measurement of nutritionally important starch fractions. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46, Suppl. 2, S33–S50.Google ScholarPubMed
Englyst, HN, Quigley, ME, Hudson, GJ & Cummings, JH (1992 b) Determination of dietary fibre as non-starch polysaccharides by gas-liquid chromatography. Analyst 177, 1707–1714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairchild, RM, Ellis, PR, Byrne, AJ, Luzio, SD & Mir, MA (1996) A new breakfast cereal containing guar gum reduces postprandial plasma glucose and insulin concentrations in normal-weight human subjects. British Journal of Nutrition 76, 63–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Food and Agriculture Organization (1988) Traditional Food Plants: A Source Book for Promoting the Exploitation and Consumption of Food Plants in Arid, Semi-Arid and Semi-Humid Lands of Eastern Africa, pp. 243–245. Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
Giami, SY & Wachuku, OC (1997) Composition and functional properties of unprocessed and locally processed seeds from three underutilized food sources in Nigeria. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 50, 27–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gidley, MJ, Lillford, PJ, Rowlands, DW, Lang, P, Dentini, M, Crescenzi, V, Edwards, M, Fanutti, C & Reid, JSG (1991) Structure and solution properties of tamarind-seed polysaccharide. Carbohydrate Research 214, 299–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holland, B, Welch, AA, Unwin, I, Buss, DH, Paul, AA & Southgate, DAT (1991) McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 5th ed. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry/Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.Google Scholar
Holm, J, Lundquist, I, Björk, I, Eliasson, AC & Asp, N-G (1988) Degree of starch gelatinisation digestion rate of starch in vitro, and metabolic responses in rats. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 47, 1010–1016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarjis, HA, Blackburn, NA, Redfern, JS & Read, NW (1984) The effect of ispaghula (Fybogel and Metamucil) and guar gum on glucose tolerance in man. British Journal of Nutrition 51, 371–378.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, DJA, Leeds, AR, Gassull, MA, Wolever, TMS, Goff, DV, Alberti, KGMM & Hockaday, TDR (1976) Unabsorbable carbohydrates and diabetes: decreased post-prandial hyperglycaemia. Lancet 2, 170–174.Google ScholarPubMed
Johansen, HN, Bach Knudsen, KE, Sandström, B & Skjøth, F (1996) Effects of varying content of soluble dietary fibre from wheat flour and oat milling fractions on gastric emptying in pigs. British Journal of Nutrition 75, 339–351.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, TO (1991) Diabetes in the Third World.World HealthMay–June, 8–10Google Scholar
Kirk, RS & Sawyer, R (1991) Pearson's Chemical Analysis of Foods, 9th ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Lauer, O (1966) Grain Size Measurements on Commercial Powders. Ausberg: Alpine AG Ausberg.Google Scholar
Low, AG (1990) Nutritional regulation of gastric secretion digestion and emptying. Nutrition Research Reviews 3, 229–252.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meyer, JH & Doty, JE (1988) GI transit and absorption of solid food: multiple effects of guar. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 48, 267–273.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgan, LM, Tredger, JA, Wright, J & Marks, V (1990) The effect of soluble- and insoluble-fibre supplementation on post-prandial glucose tolerance, insulin and gastric inhibitory polypeptide secretion in healthy subjects. British Journal of Nutrition 64, 103–110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Onyechi, U (1995) Potential role of indigenous Nigerian foods in the treatment of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. PhD Thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Peterson, DB, Ellis, PR, Baylis, JM, Fielden, P, Ajodhia, J, Leeds, AR & Jepson, EM (1987) Low dose guar in a novel food product: improved metabolic control in non-insulin dependent diabetes. Diabetic Medicine 4, 111–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rea, R, Thompson, LU & Jenkins, DJA (1985) Lectins in foods and their relation to starch digestibility. Nutrition Research 5, 919–929.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reid, JSG (1985) Cell wall storage carbohydrates in seeds. Biochemistry of the seed ‘gums’ and ‘hemicelluloses’. Advances in Botanical Research 11, 125–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Statistical Analysis Systems (1985) SAS® User's Guide: Statistics, version 5 ed. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.Google Scholar
Thompson, LU, Button, CL & Jenkins, DJA (1987) Phytic acid and calcium affect the in vitro rate of navy bean starch digestion and blood glucose response in humans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46, 467–473.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, LU, Yoon, JH, Jenkins, DJA, Wolever, TMS & Jenkins, AL (1984) Relationship between polyphenol intake and blood glucose response of normal and diabetic individuals. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 39, 745–751.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thorne, MJ, Thompson, LU & Jenkins, DJA (1983) Factors affecting starch digestibility and the glycemic response with special reference to legumes. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 38, 481–488.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Truswell, AS (1992) Glycaemic index of foods. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46, Suppl. 2, S91–S101.Google ScholarPubMed
Truswell, AS & Benyen, AC (1992) Dietary fibre and plasma lipids: potential for prevention and treatment of hyperlipidaemias. In Dietary Fibre – A Component of Food. Nutritional Function in Health and Disease, pp. 295–332 [Schweizer, TF and Edwards, CA, editors]. London: Springer Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Q, Ellis, PR, Ross-Murphy, SB & Burchard, W (1997) Solution characteristics of the xyloglucan extracted from Detarium senegalense Gmelin. Carbohydrate Polymers 33, 114–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Q, Ellis, PR, Ross-Murphy, SB & Reid, JSG (1996) A new polysaccharide from a traditional Nigerian plant food: Detarium senegalense Gmelin. Carbohydrate Research 284, 229–239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Werner, W, Rey, HG & Wielinger, H (1970) On the properties of a new chromogen for the determination of glucose in blood according to the GOD/POD methods (In German). Zeitschrift für Analytische Chemie 252, 224–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Health Organization (1985) Diabetes Mellitus. Technical Report Series no. 727Geneva:WHO.Google Scholar
Würsch, P, Del Vodovo, S & Koellreutter, B (1986) Cell structure and starch nature as key determinants of the digestion rate of starch in legume. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 43, 25–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yamatoya, K, Shiakawa, M, Kuwano, K, Suzuki, J & Mitamura, T (1996) Effects of hydrolyzed xyloglucan on lipid metabolism in rats. Food Hydrocolloids 10, 369–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar