Abstract
In order to investigate the effect of commercially available wheat albumin (WA), which has inhibitory activity against human amylases, on postprandial blood glucose and insulin responses, 12 normal, 12 borderline and 22 diabetic volunteers were given cooked rice (300g) with and without WA in a cross-over manner. WA was added to cooked rice at a dose of 1.5g. The dose contained 458mg of 0.19-albumin, the most dominant amylase inhibitor in WA. The administration of WA significantly lowered the mean blood glucose level 30min and 1h after the meal in the borderline and diabetic groups, but lowered the mean blood glucose level only 30min after the meal in the normal group (p< 0.01). The mean area under the curve (AUC) of plasma glucose over 3h was reduced by 22% in the diabetic group (p<0.01), 19% in the normal group and 16% in the borderline groups, the latter two reductions being non-significant. WA also decreased serum insulin 1h after the meal in the diabetic group (p<0.01) and 30min after the meal in the borderline (p<0.05) group. No adverse reactions, e.g., abdominal pain, diarrhea, retching and flatus, were observed during the study period. Administration of 1.5g of WA was able to suppress the rice meal-induced hyper glycemic response. Thus WA may be useful for preventing postprandial hyperglycemia in diabetic patient.
