Blood Glucose Response: Jimmy Joy Plenny Shake vs white bread over 120 minutes

Introduction

Jimmy Joy aims to be the healthiest meal scientifically possible. This is achieved by sourcing the best ingredients which result in the highest health benefits. A part of a healthy diet is eating low glycemic. The glycemic index (GI) is a measurement system that ranks food according to their effect on the blood glucose levels. Foods with a low GI, are slowly digested and absorbed causing a small and slow rise in blood glucose. Therefore, they are preferred over high glycemic food which causes a fast rise and drop of blood glucose. An example of a food with a high GI is white bread.

White bread is comparable to glucose by giving the highest possible glycemic index. This can be explained by the composition of bread, which is mainly large chains of glucose. On the contrary, foods with a low glycemic index contain complex carbs, a complex nutrient profile and a high fibre content. This is also the case with the Plenny Shake v3.0. Figure 1 shows how blood glucose levels differ for low GI and high GI foods. In order to verify if the composition of the Plenny Shake actually results in an effect on blood glucose levels compatible with low GI food, it is useful to compare Plenny Shake over a high GI food in order to detect the differences and draw a conclusion on the GI of Plenny Shake (1–4).

Research question: What is the effect on blood glucose levels of Plenny Shake v3.0 compared to high GI food?

Hypothesis: The trend of the blood glucose rise of Plenny Shake v3.0 is compatible with the low GI line (figure 1).

Figure 1: Effect of high and low glycemic index foods on blood glucose levels.

Method

Nine participants of varied ages and genders were selected. An important criterion to participate in this research was to have no medical conditions or using medication that may affect blood glucose levels. The trial took place on two non-consecutive trial days, part 1 and part 2. On part 1, the participants consumed 55,6 grams Plenny Shake v3.0 (test food), containing 25 grams available carbohydrates. Likewise, in part 2, the participants consumed 50 grams of white bread (reference food) which is equal to 25 grams available carbohydrates.

For both testing days, each subject fasted for 12 hours overnight where they were permitted to consume nothing apart from water.  Following this, each subject tested their fasting blood glucose consumption using a glucometer (Accu-Chek® (Roche)).  Thereafter, they consumed the amounts of Plenny Shake (day 1) and white bread (day 2) mentioned before. Blood glucose readings were taken again at 15-minute intervals up to 120 minutes after consumption, giving a total of 9 readings…