THESIS

Recently, there has been a flurry of public and commercial interest in the
GI concept and its possible inclusion on food labels, both as an aid for the
management of diabetes and to indicate potential foods that may aid weight loss and
management (McKevith, 2004). It is known that dietary fiber may contribute to an
improved glycaemic response and, in general, high-fiber foods are assigned a lower
GI value. Interest is now increasing in assigning GI values to RS rich foods. However,
it must be remembered that for foods enriched with truly resistant starches, a reduced
glycaemic response may simply result from a lack of available digestible starch,
rather than any specific physiological effects (Jenkins et al. 2002).
2.9 Measuring glycemic index in vitro
Glycemic index evaluation in humans can be difficult and costly, therefore
studies measuring in vitro digestion of starch foods have been done in order to predict
in vivo effects (Grandfelt et al. 1992, Englyst and Hudson 1996, Bjŏrck 1996 and
Gońi et al. 1996). Gońi et al. (1997) developed a first order equation from the in vitro
kinetics of starch digestion of foods. This model has a high correlation with in vivo
glycemic responses (r=0.909, p