GI Glycaemic Index Healthy Volunteers Clinical Trial
Official title:
Assessing the Glycaemic Index of Two Different Cultivars of Date Fruit When Mixed With 0% Fat Yogurt on Healthy Volunteers.
Fruit of the date palm (P. dactylifera) may be considered as an emerging and potential
candidate for the development of health-promoting foods, owing to its high nutritional
values.
Furthermore, aqueous extracts of dates have previously been shown to have potent antioxidant
activity, because they inhibit in vitro lipid and protein oxidation and possess free radical
scavenging capacity.
Although the high sugar content of date fruit has always been a concern, date fruit has been
regarded as a low-GI to medium-GI food. However, very limited, inconsistent and contradictory
information is available on the glycaemic index values of different date varieties, which may
be attributed to both the methodology as well as other food factors. Date consumption is high
among people of Arabic origin, where it's very common for them to be eaten with coffee or
yoghurt. Therefore, in view of these concerns, the objective of this trial is to evaluate the
glycaemic response of two different varieties of dates, named Birhi & Khassab, in an early
maturation stage (Rutab stage), when mixed with 0% fat yogurt, on ten healthy participants
aged between 18 and 45.
Introduction Although, the fruit of the date palm (P. dactylifera) may be considered an
emerging and potential candidate for the development of health-promoting foods owing to its
high nutritive values,the high sugar content of date fruit has always been a concern.
Sun-dried dates, which is the well-known ripening stage of date fruit, can be regarded as
low-GI to medium-GI food. However, very limited, inconsistent and contradictory information
is available on the glycaemic Index values of different date varieties. This variation could
be attributed to either the methodology or the food factors.
Rational and objective Nowadays, low-GI foods have often been found to induce beneficial
effects on risk factors for certain non-communicable chronic diseases . As the chemical
composition of dates can vary depending on cultivar, soil conditions, agronomic practices as
well as the ripening stage. It is important to know the GI of the local/regional date
varieties, and in different date products such as dates with yoghurt. Date consumption is
high among people of Arabic origin, where it is very commonly eaten with coffee or yoghurt.
During the first trial of this PHD project, treatments containing 150g of 0% fat yoghurt and
two different freeze dried date powders, depending on if it was a Birhi treatment or Khassab
treatment, were formulated. These were used to assess acute effects of date fruit and yoghurt
on mood and cognitive performance in healthy volunteers, as per the ethical approval from
Newcastle University. These exact treatments will be used again, and the trial will aim to
evaluate their glycaemic index on 10 healthy participants.
Participants Ten healthy participants aged between 18 and 45 will be recruited. Participants
will be required to undergo a screening visit, followed by three study visits, which will
last 2:15 minutes for each visit. Glycaemic indexes will be calculated using standard
methods. Results will be calculated using means and standard deviations.
Design
A standard experimental study involving the measurement of the glycaemic responses of the
ingestion of two different varieties of dates, when mixed with 0% fat yoghurt, and a placebo
treatment.
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