Glycemic Index and Load Responses of Indigenous Vegetable Sauces Among Healthy Young Female Adults

Background: Low glycemic index, load, and response food has been implicated in reducing the incidence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). Also, the use of locally made foods has been advocated for in the management of diabetes mellitus in recent times. Methods: The recipe for the test food was developed and standardized. Proximate and dietary fiber analysis was carried out on the test food (okra, African spinach, and lettuce sauces) and reference food (white bread). Thirty-six non-diabetic undergraduate students of Imo State University, Nigeria were selected after diabetes screening using oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), glycated hemoglobin, anthropometric indices, blood pressure, and other exclusion criteria. Subjects consumed a serving portion of vegetable sauce containing 25g of digestible carbohydrate. Postprandial plasma glucose was measured at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 minutes. The glycemic index and load were calculated per serving. Means and standard deviations were used to compute the average. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the means while Tukey's test was used to separate the means. Significant difference and decision criterion were set at p<0.05 using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. Results: Moisture content ranged from 64.10 +/- 0.57% (okra sauce) to 64.62 +/- 0.66% (lettuce sauce) did not differ significantly (p<0.05). Fat, fiber, and ash content higher in lettuce sauce 3.40 +/- 0.24%, 1.69 +/- 0.1% 2, and 4.40 +/- 0.24% respectively, carbohydrate was higher in African spinach (15.07 +/- 0.77%) while dietary fiber (3.26 +/- 0.01%), protein (15.15 +/- 0.09%) and energy (136.62 +/- 2.24 kcal) was higher in okra sauce. Sauces were not significantly different. White bread shows that moisture content was 17.62, fat 1.53%, protein 14.86%, ash 6.90%, carbohydrate 58.88%, energy 308.66 kcal, and dietary fiber 0.33. The anthropometric indices show that body mass index (BMI) of the subjects ranged from 23.12kg/m(2) in African spinach sauce subjects to 23.53kg/m(2) (okra sauce subjects). Waist hip ratio (WHR) was highest in lettuce sauce subjects (0.84). All the subjects that participated were all females. HbA1(C) was higher in okra sauce (5.23%) group subjects. Systolic blood pressure was 119.08mmHg (African Spinach sauce subjects) while diastolic blood pressure was highest in lettuce sauce subjects (85.68mmHg). Pulse rate (85.17) was highest in okra sauce subjects. The incremental area under curve (IAUC) for the white bread was significantly (p<0.05) higher in all the subjects compared to the vegetable sauces with a high glycemic index and load of 93.25 and 54.91 respectively. African spinach sauce had a lower postprandial plasma glucose peak of 88.00mg/dl at 60 minutes compared to okra and lettuce sauces. All the vegetable sauces had a low glycemic index of 17.02 (okra sauce), 14.05 (African spinach) and 36.76 (lettuce), and low glycemic load was 0.75, 0.38 and 3.80 for okra, African spinach, and lettuce sauces, respectively. Conclusion: All the vegetable sauces studied should be recommended while planning meals for diabetic patients.