Are caloric beverages compensated for in the short-term by young adults? An investigation with particular focus on gender differences.

The effect of liquid calories on short-term energy compensation is a topic that justifies further investigation. Whilst previous studies appear to vary widely in terms of protocol, design and outcomes, none have placed much focus on possible gender differences in compensation. This study investigated the impact of isocaloric (150kcal) portions of a sucrose sweetened fruit drink (SSD), orange juice (OJ) and semi-skimmed milk (M) on subjective hunger and food intake at a subsequent ad libitum buffet consisting of a large variety of foods, and compared their effects with a calorie free (artificially sweetened) fruit drink control (CTRL). Forty-seven young adults (24 females and 23 males) were provided a standard breakfast which was followed 3h later by the preload beverage and 1h later by lunch. Participants rated hunger, fullness and desire to eat throughout the study period. Compared to the CTRL, males demonstrated a good caloric compensation at lunch following all three treatment beverages, whilst females reduced food intake following M. Total energy intake (energy in preload+energy intake at lunch) by males was similar across all four beverage conditions whilst females showed an increased total energy intake following SSD compared to the CTRL. The study indicates that the consumption of caloric beverages may not be affecting total energy intake in males in the short-term even in the presence of a large selection of palatable foods. On the other hand, females appeared to show a possible dysregulation, which requires further investigation.

Glycaemic index of some commercially available rice and rice products in Great Britain.

The glycaemic response to nine types of rice (white basmati, brown basmati, white and brown basmati, easy-cook basmati, basmati and wild rice, long-grain rice, easy-cook long-grain rice, Thai red rice, Thai glutinous rice) and two types of rice vermicelli (Guilin rice vermicelli, Jiangxi rice vermicelli) commercially available in the United Kingdom were compared against a glucose standard in a non-blind, randomized, repeated-measure, crossover design trial. Fourteen healthy subjects (six males, eight females), mean age 38 (standard deviation 16) years and mean body mass index 21.3 (standard deviation 2.3) kg/m(2), were recruited for the study. Subjects were served portions of the test foods and a standard food (glucose), on separate occasions, each containing 50 g available carbohydrates. Capillary blood glucose was measured from finger-prick samples in fasted subjects (-5 and 0 min) and at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 min after the consumption of each test food. For each type of food, its glycaemic index (GI) was calculated geometrically by expressing the incremental area under the blood glucose curve as a percentage of each subject's average incremental area under the blood glucose curve for the standard food. The 10 foods exhibited a range of GI values from 37 to 92. The study indicated that rice noodles, long-grain rice, easy-cook long-grain rice and white basmati rice were low-GI foods, whilst all of the other foods were medium-GI and high-GI foods. The information presented in this paper may be useful in helping people select low-GI foods from the customary foods consumed by the British and Asian populations.