Obesity and Other Hyperalimentation Clinical Trial
Official title:
Assessment of Gastric Emptying and Fullness of Different Types of Foods in Mali
As populations become urbanized in Africa, the change to a more Westernized diet has been associated with rise in obesity and related metabolic syndrome diseases. The current study shows that in the West African Sahel, these replacement starchy staple foods have fast gastric emptying compared to traditional sorghum and millet foods; and implies that the latter could be beneficial in lowering glycemic response, providing energy from a meal over a longer time, and providing a satiety effect. Knowledge of this attribute of sorghum and millet foods could be useful to improve their image in West African cities to increase their consumption and to improve markets for local smallholder farmers.
As suggested by anecdotal evidence that traditional Malian sorghum and millet foods are
filling and provide sustained energy, we hypothesized that gastric emptying rates of sorghum
and millet foods are slow, particularly compared to non-traditional starchy foods (white
rice, potato, wheat pasta) that are now commonly consumed in urban areas of the West African
Sahel. A broader purpose for the study was to understand whether sorghum and millet foods
have positive health attributes that can be promoted in urban areas to provide better
markets for local farmers.
Two human trials of similar design were conducted approximately one year apart. The carbon
13 (13C)-labelled octanoic acid breath test method was used to measure gastric emptying
rate, and subjective pre-test and satiety response questionnaires were used. In the first
study, 14 healthy volunteers in Bamako, Mali participated in a crossover design to test
eight starchy foods for gastric emptying rate and satiety feelings. The second study with
six volunteers was done to correct for endogenous 13C differences in the starch component of
the foods.
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Allocation: Randomized, Intervention Model: Crossover Assignment, Masking: Open Label