DisplayTitle

Viscous dietary fibers including oat ß-glucan are one of the most effective classes of functional food ingredients for reducing postprandial blood glucose. The mechanism of action is thought to be via an increase in viscosity of the stomach contents that delays gastric emptying and reduces mixing of food with digestive enzymes, which, in turn, retards glucose absorption. Previous studies suggest that taking viscous fibers separate from a meal may not be effective in reducing postprandial glycemia. In this pilot investigation we aimed to re-assess the effect of consuming a preload of a commercially available oat-bran containing 22% of high molecular weight oat ß-glucan mixed in water before a test-meal of white bread on glycemic responses in healthy humans. We found that there was a dose-dependent effect of oat-bran on glycemic response with each gram of oat ß-glucan reducing glucose AUC by 4.4±2.0% (p=0.0008) and peak rise by 6.6±1.5% (p<0.0001). These data suggest the use of oat bran as nutritional preload strategy in the management of postprandial glycemia.