TITLE:
Effect of the Various Processed Food of the Far North Cameroon on the Glycemic Index
AUTHORS:
Benoît B. Koubala, Germain Kansci, Abdoulaye N. P. Fifen, Angèle I. Ngoufack, Yvette C. M. Dadjeu
KEYWORDS:
Food Processing; Meals; Glycemic Index; Glycemia; Far North Cameroon
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.5 No.9,
April
1,
2014
ABSTRACT: Metabolic Syndrome
(MS) has reached a pandemic proportion and has an impact on the incidence and
severity of cardiovascular pathologies. This study was conducted to evaluate
the effect of different processed food commonly consumed in Maroua (Far North
Region, Cameroon) on the Glycemic Index (GI). To ameliorate the follow up of
MS and population’s nutrition education, a survey was conducted among 200
families. The ten most consumed meals were selected after a food survey among
200 families. The meals were mostly made of a vegetable soup associated to a
high carbohydrate staple. Vegetables and cereals were processed according to
the food survey results. Then, a food tolerance test was performed on 30 male
volunteers living in the same region. Among them, 12 were selected with an
average age of 28.25 and a mean BMI of 19.63. They were studied on separate
occasions in the morning after an overnight fast. After fasting, blood glucose
was taken before and (15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 minutes) after eating a test
meal compared to sucrose and glucose solution (33.33%) used as reference.
Glycemic response curves were used to calculate the gi of each meal. Results
show that GI of the tested meals varied significantly (p kelenkelen-beans
(Cochorus oletorius-Vigna unguiculata) sauce and red millet porridge with kelenkelen-peanut (Cochorus oletorius-Arachis
hypogea) sauce exhibited the lowest GI. The highest GI was observed in corn
porridge associated with fresh okra (Hibuscus esculentus) or with tasba (Cassia tora)-okra-beans sauce.