Ninth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

In vitro anti-diabetic effect of different vegetables has been reported; however, the same role of these vegetables has not been much explored through human intervention. Therefore, present study was conducted to examine the comparative effects of muffins supplemented with bitter gourd (BGM), and other vegetables like spinach (SPM) and eggplant (EPM) on subjective appetite, blood glucose (BG), gut hormones and food intake in healthy young males through a randomized, cross over experiment. After 12 hours fasting, twenty-four healthy young males (18-30 Y) were fed 300g of plain muffins (control) or supplemented with bitter gourd powder, BGM (10g/100g flour), or spinach powder, SPM (10g/100g flour), or eggplant powder, EPM (10g/100g flour). An ad libitum pizza meal was served at 120min to measure the food intake. Subjective appetite, blood glucose, and gut hormones (insulin, GLP-1, active ghrelin) were measured at intervals from baseline to 120min. Post-treatment (0-120min) glucose, but not insulin, decreased following all the vegetables supplemented muffins compared to the control (P<0.0001) with more pronounced effect of BGM. However, post-treatment avg. subjective appetite (P=0.0017) and food intake (P=0.0021) were reduced following BGM but not SPM and EPM. BGM further improved GLP-1 concentration (P<0.0001), & reduced active ghrelin (P=0.0022), compared with control. The bitter gourd supplemented baked foods possess potential more than other vegetables to regulate postprandial appetite & glycemic responses, without disproportionate increase in insulin concentration.