Glycemic index of some local staples in Ghana

Glycemic index (GI), a measure of blood glucose level as influenced by foods has become a concern due to the increasing cases of diabetes in Ghana. In spite of this, little is known of the GI of commonly consumed carbohydrate‐rich foods of the Ghanaian diet. The GI of five Ghanaian staples: fufu (locally pounded), kenkey (Ga), banku, Tuo Zaafi (TZ), and fufu (Processed powder) were determined in a crossover trial among 10 healthy nondiabetics. Participants were given 50 g portions of pure glucose on two different occasions and subsequently the test foods containing 50 g available carbohydrates. Capillary blood glucose levels of the subjects at fasting and after ingestion of the glucose and test foods were measured within a 2‐hour period. The GI of the test foods were calculated by dividing the incremental area under the glucose response curve (IAUC) of the test food by the IAUC for the reference food and multiplying the result by 100. Processed‐powdered fufu had the least glycemic response (31), followed by Ga kenkey (41) and locally pounded fufu (55), all recording low GI. Tuo Zaafi (68) had a medium GI and banku (73), moderately high GI. Comparison of GI between the foods using ANOVA revealed a significant difference between GIs of locally pounded fufu versus I‐fufu (industrially processed fufu flour) (p = 0.026). This study showed that the five major Ghanaian staples showed low to moderately high GI. These should be considered in recommendations for diabetics.