ABSTRACT
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.