A STARCH HYDROLYSIS PROCEDURE TO ESTIMATE GLYCEMIC INDEX

An in vitro procedure to measure the rate of starch digestion in starc hy common foodstuffs was developed. A first-order equation that rules the hydrolytic process was found: C=C-infinity (1-e(-kt)). Besides an in vivo assay, to calculate the glycemic index (GI), was carried out o n thirty healthy volunteers. This is a simple in vitro method that cou ld be used to estimate the metabolic glycemic response to a food. The best correlated value with in vivo glycemic responses was the percenta ge of starch hydrolysis at 90 min (r= 0.909, p less than or equal to 0 .05, GI(1)= 39.21+0.803(H-90)). Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science In c.