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Glycemic Response to Pasta: Effect of Surface Area, Degree of Cooking, and Protein Enrichment

DOI

89

Citations

0

References

1986

Year

Thomas M.S. Wolever, David J.A. Jenkins, J Kalmusky, Carla Giordano, Silvia Dei Giudici, Alexandra L. Jenkins, Lilian U. Thompson, G.S. Wóng, R G Josse
Diabetes Care

Abstract

To see whether food form, the degree of cooking, or protein enrichment affected the glycemic response to pasta, we gave test-meal breakfasts to 13 diabetic patients. Macaroni had a significantly greater glycemic index (GI) (68 +/- 8) than spaghetti (45 +/- 6, P less than .01); the GI of star pastina was intermediate (54 +/- 6). The GI of spaghetti was not significantly affected by cooking for 5 or 15 min (45 +/- 6 and 46 +/- 5, respectively), or by protein enrichment (38 +/- 4). The GI of spaghetti was similar in 11 non-insulin-dependent and 6 insulin-dependent diabetic patients (49 +/- 7 compared with 57 +/- 8). We conclude that different types of pasta may produce different glycemic responses but that these are not necessarily related to differences in cooking or surface area.