Abstract

GLYCAEMIC INDEX REDUCTION ASSOCIATED TO THE INGESTION OF SPELT BREAD

Flávia Garcia Carvallho, Nancy Scardua Binda, Rafaela de Souza Oliveira, Cláudia Barbosa Assunção, Jacques Gabriel Álvares Horta, Deborah Campos Oliveira, Nathália Sernizon Guimarães, Rachel Basques Caligiorne and Sônia Maria de Figueiredo*

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The glycemic index is an indicator of the carbohydrate quality consumed in the usual diet. Diets that do not increase the glycemic index promote satiety, decrease the recurrence of hunger, and reduce caloric intake requirements at subsequent meals. Objective: In this study, the glycemic index of healthy volunteers who ingested bread made with spelt (Triticum spelta L.) flour were compared with those that ingested bread made with common wheat (T. aestivum L.) was evaluated. Methodology: Healthy people (n=53), volunteers of both sexes, who receive their main meals at the university restaurant, were randomly selected in the city of Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil, to consume spelt bread or wheat bread for seven days. On the first day, the glucose tolerance test was performed and, on the following days, the postprandial glycaemia test was performed in all participants. The results were analyzed using the Kolmogorov Smirnov test for normality for dependent samples. Results and Discussion: The volunteers who ate spelt bread had lower glycemic index (p=0.002) than the people who ate wheat bread. Evidently, constituents of the spelt flour lowered the glycemic index of the volunteers who ate spelt bread. Besides containing more protein and fewer carbohydrates, the spelt flour also contained more fibers, mainly insoluble ones, which together favor lower glycemic index. Conclusion: A statistically significant decrease in the glycemic index was observed in volunteers who ate spelt bread.

Keywords: Spelt Bread, Wheat Bread, Glycaemia reduction, glucose intolerance, diabetes.