Starch digestibility may have an effect on the postprandial blood glucose profile. The aim of this meta-analysis was to analyze the relationship between Slowly Digestible Starch (SDS) levels and plasma glucose appearance and disappearance rates, as well as other parameters of glucose metabolism, after healthy subjects consumed cereal products that differed in SDS content. Three randomized controlled clinical trials that included a total of 79 subjects were identified. Using binary classification for the variables (high versus low levels, more than 12 g of SDS per portion, and less than 1 g of SDS per portion, respectively), we found that there was a 15-fold higher chance of having a low rate of appearance of exogenous glucose (RaE) after consumption of a high-SDS product. A high SDS content was also associated with a 12-fold and 4-fold higher chance of having a low rate of disappearance of exogenous glucose (RdE) and rate of disappearance of total plasma glucose (RdT), respectively. The RaE kinetics were further analyzed by modeling the contribution of SDS content to the different phases of the RaE response. We show that the higher the SDS content per portion of cereal product, the higher its contribution to the incremental area under the curve (iAUC) of the RaE response after 165 min. Using the association rule technique, we found that glycemic iAUC and insulinemic iAUC values vary in the same direction. In conclusion, this meta-analysis confirms the effect of the SDS level in cereal products on the metabolic response, and shows for the first time that the degree to which SDS affects the RaE response differs depending on the SDS content of the food product, as well as the phase of the postprandial period.
Keywords: breakfast; exogenous glucose appearance rate (RaE); glycemic index (GI); glycemic response; insulin response; slowly digestible starch (SDS); starch digestibility.