RESUMEN
It is well known that different carbohydrate foods elicit a wide spectrum of plasma glucose responses when eaten without other foods [Garpo et al., 1980]. The choice of carbohydrate diet should not be based on its chemical composition but on the glycemic index it produces [Garpo et al, 1981]. The aim of this work is to study the glycemic response of some.commonly used Egyptian foods in their individual and mixed forms to determine their effects on blood glucose response and hence, the possibility of incorporating them into diets of non-insulin dependent diabetics. Sixty adult NIDDM patients were studied. They were divided into six groups studied for foods each containing an equivalent amount of carbohydrate to 100 gm of glucose. The glycemic responses were calculated according to the formula of Jenkins [1981]. It has been found that the tested diets gave blood glucose responses much lower than those of equivalent amounts of glucose in a liquid formula. Leguminous diets [beans and lentils] gave lower glycemic indices then cereals [bread], with the glycemic index of lentils being lower than that of beans. Regarding mixed diets, bread and tamia had higher index than other tested foods. On previous studies [Khater 1986A and 1986B] we found the same difference in glycemic response to the tested foods in normals. This finding is different from Collier et al [1986], who found different glycemic response to the same diet between normals and diabetic individuals