Impact of dietary fibre-enriched ready-to-eat extruded snacks on the postprandial glycaemic response of non-diabetic patients.

Food intervention is a financially sensible way for prevention and treatment of diabetes. Extruded snack foods are considered high glycaemic products. Our previous research illustrated that postprandial glycaemic responses to snacks are manipulated by altering dietary fibre and starch contents. The current research assessed the effect of psyllium and oat bran on postprandial glycaemia and in vitro digestibility. Addition of psyllium fibre to extruded snack products significantly reduced both the in vitro and in vivo glycaemic responses of products compared to a control snack product recipe. Oat bran inclusion reduced in vitro starch digestibility but not in vivo glycaemic response. The inclusion of oat bran into the snack products appeared to extend the glycaemic response of individuals compared to the control snack, suggesting a possibility of prolonging glucose release and potentially affecting satiety responses. The positive effect in attenuating glucose response means that psyllium fibre could be a target for inclusion by the snack food industry to effectively manipulate postprandial glucose response of individuals.

© 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.