Glycemic index determination of vegetable and fruits in healthy Bangladeshi subjects.

INTRODUCTION Fruits and vegetables are an important part of the diet especially for their complex carbohydrates, dietary fibre and micronutrients. The present study investigated the glycemic index (GI) of a vegetable [carrot (Daucas carota)] and fruits [banana (Chapa kola) Musa Sp. and plum (Bau kul) Zizyphus mauritiana] of Bangladeshi origin. METHODS Fourteen healthy Bangladeshi subjects, comprising 7 males and, 7 females, with mean age of 26 +/- 3 years, BMI 22 +/- 3 kg/m2, waist-hip ratio of 0.89 +/- 0.01 and 0.84 +/- 0.04 respectively for males and females. Under a cross-over design, they consumed equi-carbohydrate amounts (25 g of total available carbohydrate) of the test foods and two times glucose as reference food (25 g of total carbohydrate), with a run in period of 7 days between the consecutive items. Serum glucose levels were determined at 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min. The GIs was calculated. RESULTS The carrot, banana and plum samples showed significantly lower serum glucose values (incremental area under the curve 30.4 +/- 12.6, 37.3 +/- 19.2 and 41.8 +/- 20.7 respectively) than glucose (132.7 +/- 36.0). The carrot showed a lower GI value than banana and plum respectively (23 +/- 9, 30 +/- 18 and 32 +/- 15). CONCLUSION The vegetable and fruit samples tested of Bangladesh origin were shown to have comparatively low GI values.