S. P. A. S. Senadheera, S. Ekanayake / Agricultural Sciences 4 (2013) 81-84
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. OPEN A CCESS
cial product targeting the diabetic patients. Although the
ingredient ratio of freshly prepared and commercially
produced porridges is similar, the procedure followed in
commercial production included extrusion that may change
the texture of the ingredients which may affect the GI.
Therefore the objective of this study was to estimate the
glycaemic indices of two Scoparia dulsic porridge sam-
ples with the same ingredient ratio as in the fresh, low GI
porridge but produced commercially, incorporating dif-
ferent rice particle sizes, in normal and in diabetic indi-
viduals.
2. METHODOLOGY
Preparation of the extruded meal: Tender leaves of
SD (15 kg), scraped coconut kernel (10 kg) and red rice
[272 6B, Rice Resear ch Institute, Bombuwala, Sri Lanka]
(15kg) were mixed and extruded at 110˚C - 120˚C using
JR 600 Extruder (Instra Por). Extruded meal was dehy-
drated using a hot air dryer (60˚C - 75˚C, 4 - 5 hrs).
Dried meal was ground using a Hammer mill (Particle
size 100% pass through 0.5 mm mesh).
Preparation of porridge 1: Extruded meal prepared
as above and rice powder (boiled and dried rice grain
powder, 100% pass through 0.5 mm mesh) was mixed in
1:1 ratio.
Preparation of porridge 2: Extruded meal prepared
as above and boiled and dried intact rice grains were
mixed in 1:1 ratio.
Digestible carbohydrate content: Digestible carbo-
hydrate content of porridges 1 and 2 were estimated by
modified Holm’s method [6]. Porridge 1 and 2 were
packed separately (40 g) in air tight packets which con-
tained fresh leaves: rice: scraped coconut kernel in 13 -
15: 25 - 30: 10 - 13 (w/w/w) ratio.
Estimation of GI and GL: The GI study was de-
signed as a random crossover study. Glycaemic index of
porridges 1 and 2 were estimated with 10 healthy indi-
viduals (BMI = 18 - 2 5, fa s t ing blood gluc ose level ≤ 110
mg/dl, peak blood glucose level after consuming 25 g of
glucose ≤ 180 mg/dl, not under any medication) and with
10 diabetic patients (FBS > 126 - 300 mg/dl, with no
severe complications) [7].
Volunteers were advised to fast for 8 10 hours and
fasting blood glucose measured. Glucose was used as the
standard reference food. Volunteers were given 25 g of
glucose in 250 ml of water and blood glucose was meas-
ured at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 minutes after ingestion of
glucose. Additional blood samples at 150 and 180 mi-
nutes were obtained from diabetic patients.
Incremental area under the curve (IAUC) was calcu-
lated using a graph constructed with blood glucose con-
centration vs. time. The above procedure was repeated
twice for every volunteer and the mean IAUC calculated.
Porridges containing 25 g of digestible carbohydrate (1
packet of each porridge) was given to the volunteers on
separate days, after reconstituting the contents in the
packet with 500 ml of water and boiling for 5 minutes in
a closed pan. IAUC was calculated. The percentage ratio
of IAUC for porridge and average IAUC for glucose
were taken as GI for each individual. The GI values of
each volunteer were averaged to obtain the final GI val-
ues.
Glycaemic Load (GL) was estimated by multiplying
the Glycaemic Index by the number of net carbohydrates
in a given serving (25 g) [8].
Particle size distribution of the porridges: Each por-
ridge (1 and 2) was sieved through 0.5 mm, 0.1 mm and
0.05 mm sieve set separately and the percentage portion
on each sieve and the percentage portion sieved through
the final sieve (0.05 mm) were measured.
Ethical approval: Ethical approval was obtained from
the Ethics Review Committee of Faculty of Medical
Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura (Approval
No.476/09). Written consent was obtained after explain-
ing the procedure to each volunteer.
Statistical Analysis: Data were analyzed using stu-
dent t test (Microsoft Excel 2007 version).
3. RESULTS
Both porridges had comparable digestible carbohydrate
contents (68%) which were similar to the freeze dried
fresh porridge. GI values of porridges 1 and 2 for normal
and diabetics are stated in Table 1. Porridge 1 elicited
high GI in both normal and diabetic individuals. Howev-
er, porridge 2 elicited medium GI for both normal and
diabetic individuals. Porridge 1 had a high GL while por-
ridge 2 had a medium GL for bot h no rmal and dia be tics.
The glycaemic responses of porridge 1 and porridge 2
in normal and diabetic subjects are given in Figures 1
and 2 respectively. A significant reduction (p < 0.05) in
the peak blood glucose was observed in diabetic subjects
for porridge 2 (12.4%) compared to porridge 1 (0.7%)
when compared to glucose.
The particle size distribution of porridges 1 and 2 are
stated in Table 2. Porridge 2 had a significantly high (p <
0.05) amount of larger particles (>0.5 mm) (63%) com-
pared to porridge 1 (1.3%). The amount of particles smaller
than 0.05 mm in porridge 1 was twice the amount in po r-
ridge 2.
Table 1. GI values of porridges for normal and diabetic indi-
viduals.
Porridge 1 Porridge 2
N = 10.
