Comparison of Glycaemic Indices of Four Nigerian Staple Diets in Adult Male Wistar Rats
Odu Nwamaka Maureen
Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger State, Nigeria and Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.
Attah Izuchukwu ` Solomon
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Physical Sciences, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.
Akor Joseph
*
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria and Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Physical Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.
Ugwoke Ifeanyi Faith
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria and Uburu Bioresources Development Center, National Biotechnology Development Agency, Abuja, Nigeria.
Okey Nwakaego Edith
National Water Resources Institute Kaduna, Kaduna State, Nigeria and Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Kuame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi Ghana.
Odo Eberechukwu Jessica
Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.
Ogbonna Ejike Kenneth
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria and Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Physical Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.
Ezema Onyebuchi Benjamin
Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Physical Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria and Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, United Kingdom.
Nwanguma Chima Bennett
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The glycaemic indices (GI) of food paste made from wheat, corn, yam, flours and garri in apparently healthy rats using glucose as standard control and water as normal control were determined through Laboratory-experimental design. This was achieved based on the effect of these different selected carbohydrate diets on postprandial glycaemia of the animal model which resulted on variable glucose response. The proximate analysis of the processed diet from wheat, corn and yam showed higher fat and protein contents than that of gari diet. Also, yam diet showed the lowest carbohydrate. The fibre content was shown to be higher in gari with the lowest in yam containing diet. Each of these selected carbohydrate diets contained 56.85% starch. A total of eighteen (18) adult male wistar rats divided into six groups which consisted of three rats each were used in the course of this study. Animals were starved throughout the night for twelve (12) hours and their blood glucose level tested at time zero, before the test food containing 2 grammes of carbohydrate per kilogramme body weight were cautiously administered. After a time interval of 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 minutes, the blood glucose was determined. α-amylase digestibility of the yam, corn, and wheat diets were higher than that of garri diet. The glycaemic index of yam diet (73.8%) was the highest, followed by that of corn diet (70.4%), wheat diet (70.2%) and garri (61.5%). The glycaemic indices of all the rat diets were less than that of the glucose standard (100%). Comparatively, the glycaemic indices of yam, wheat and corn diets did not differ significantly (p>0.05), while that of garri was significantly (p<0.05) lower.
Keywords: Glycaemic index, wheat, corn, garri, yam