Effect of Wheat Bran on the Postprandial Levels of Blood Glucose and Insulin / 日本農村医学会雑誌

　　We made Inaniwa noodles containing 10% wheat bran (wheat-bran noodles) and investigated their effect on postprandial blood glucose and insulin levels using commercially available conventional Inaniwa noodles (conventional noodles) as a control. In a single ingesting, crossover study of wheat-bran and conventional noodles (dried noodles, 100g), we instructed 40 healthy adult individuals (20 men, 20 women) to eat each type of noodles within 5 min and measured the preprandial and 30-, 60-, and 120-min postprandial blood glucose and insulin levels. Compared with conventional noodles, wheat-bran noodles tended to lower postprandial blood glucose levels, with a significant decrease at 60 min (P=0.0251), whereas insulin levels tended to be higher, with a significant increase at 30 min after the meal (P=0.024). These results suggest that blood glucose elevates slowly when noodles containing wheat bran are consumed. In summary, Inaniwa noodles containing wheat bran effectively suppresses the elevation of postprandial blood glucose levels and may be useful in preventing diabetes or as a staple food in medical nutrition therapy.

Economic Effect of the Prevention of Diabetic Complications / 日本農村医学会雑誌

We estimated the medical expense of treating patients with diabetes mellitus under the health insurance system in Japan. The expense was summed up to 5.07 million yen for a patient who developed NIDDM at the age of 40 and died at the age of 75 without diabetic complications throughout his life. If he had diabetic retinopathy, neuropathy, hypertension and hyperlipidemia, and needed insulin injection, the cost would have increased 2.4 times to 12.32 million yen. It was also estimated at 25.22 million yen for a patient who developed IDDM at the age of 20 and died at the age of 70 without diabetic complications. If the patient had with diabetic retinopathy, neuropathy and hypertension and needed hemodialysis because of nephropathy for 20 years, the figure would have reached a whopping sum of 76.17 million yen. From the viewpoint of medical economy, more effort to prevent diabetic complications should be made.