GC used in bread study

Scientists have used gas chromatography (GC) processes to investigate why postprandial insulin is lowered following the intake of rye bread compared to wheat bread.

A team from Finland published the study in the Nutrition Journal and explained that they sought to use a metabolomics approach to identify potential metabolites related to amino acid metabolism involved in this mechanism.

In a random order, 16 healthy subjects were served test standard 50g portions of sourdough fermented endosperm rye bread (RB) and a white wheat bread (WB).

Blood samples for measuring glucose and insulin concentrations were drawn over 4 hours and the gastric emptying rate (GER) was measured, while GC was used to measure changes in the plasma metabolome.

The team found that the plasma insulin response to RB was lower than WB at 30 minutes compared to 60 minutes, while starch hydrolysis rate was higher for RB than WB, contrary to the in vitro protein digestibility.

To conclude, the scientists claimed that the changes in plasma amino acids and metabolites from RB may be beneficial to health.