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Glycemic Response to Oat Bran Muffins Treated to Vary Molecular Weight of β‐Glucan
Author(s) -
Tosh Susan M.,
Brummer Yolanda,
Wolever Thomas M. S.,
Wood Peter J.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
cereal chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.558
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1943-3638
pISSN - 0009-0352
DOI - 10.1094/cchem-85-2-0211
Subject(s) - chemistry , glucan , glycemic , food science , beta glucan , bran , glycemic index , biochemistry , insulin , medicine , raw material , organic chemistry
Oat bran muffins, containing 4 or 8 g of β‐glucan per two‐muffin serving, were prepared with or without β‐glucanase treatment to produce a range of β‐glucan molecular weights from 130,000 to just over 2 million. Following an overnight fast, the glycemic responses elicited by the untreated and treated muffins was measured in 10 healthy subjects and compared with a control whole wheat muffin. Taken all together, the 4‐g β‐glucan/serving muffins reduced blood glucose peak rise (PBGR) by 15 ± 6% compared with the control. The 8‐g β‐glucan/serving muffins had a significantly greater effect (44 ± 5% reduction compared with the control, P < 0.05). The efficacy of the muffins decreased as the molecular weight was reduced from a 45 ± 6% reduction in PBGR ( P < 0.05) for the untreated muffins (averaged of both serving sizes) to 15 ± 6% ( P < 0.05) for muffins with the lowest molecular weight. As the molecular weight was reduced from 2,200,000 to 400,000, the solubility of the β‐glucan increased from a mean of 44 to 57%, but as the molecular weight was further decreased to 120,000, solubility fell to 26%. There was a significant correlation ( r 2 = 0.729, P < 0.001) between the peak blood glucose and the product of the extractable β‐glucan content and the molecular weight of the β‐glucan extracted.