Effect of adding the novel fiber, PGX(®), to commonly consumed foods on glycemic response, glycemic index and GRIP: a simple and effective strategy for reducing post prandial blood glucose levels - a randomized, controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Reductions in postprandial glycemia have been demonstrated previously with the addition of the novel viscous polysaccharide (NVP), PolyGlycopleX(® )(PGX(®)), to an OGTT or white bread. This study explores whether these reductions are sustained when NVP is added to a range of commonly consumed foods or incorporated into a breakfast cereal. METHODS: Ten healthy subjects (4M, 6F; age 37.3 ± 3.6 y; BMI 23.8 ± 1.3 kg/m(2)), participated in an acute, randomized controlled trial. The glycemic response to cornflakes, rice, yogurt, and a frozen dinner with and without 5 g of NVP sprinkled onto the food was determined. In addition, 3 granolas with different levels of NVP and 3 control white breads and one white bread and milk were also consumed. All meals contained 50 g of available carbohydrate. Capillary blood samples were taken fasting and at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 min after the start of the meal. The glycemic index (GI) and the glycemic reduction index potential (GRIP) were calculated. The blood glucose concentrations at each time and the iAUC values were subjected to repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) examining for the effect of test meal. After demonstration of significant heterogeneity, differences between individual means was assessed using GLM ANOVA with Tukey test to adjust for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: Addition of NVP reduced blood glucose response irrespective of food or dose (p < 0.01). The GI of cornflakes, cornflakes+NVP, rice, rice+NVP, yogurt, yogurt+NVP, turkey dinner, and turkey dinner+NVP were 83 ± 8, 58 ± 7, 82 ± 8, 45 ± 4, 44 ± 4, 38 ± 3, 55 ± 5 and 41 ± 4, respectively. The GI of the control granola, and granolas with 2.5 and 5 g of NVP were 64 ± 6, 33 ± 5, and 22 ± 3 respectively. GRIP was 6.8 ± 0.9 units per/g of NVP. CONCLUSION: Sprinkling or incorporation of NVP into a variety of different foods is highly effective in reducing postprandial glycemia and lowering the GI of a food. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT00935350.