Green leafy porridges: how good are they in controlling glycaemicresponse?

SENADHEERA PATHIRANNEHELAGE ANURUDDHIKA SUBHASHINIE SENADHEERA &

SAGARIKA EKANAYAKE

Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka

AbstractGreen leafy porridges made with leaf water extracts, rice and coconut milk are common Sri Lankan dietary remedies fordiabetes. Though water and ethanolic extracts of most leaves elicit hypoglycaemic effects, data are not available on the efficacywhen leaf extracts are incorporated into porridges. Thus, an effort was made to evaluate the proximate compositions andglycaemic index (GI) of some commonly consumed green leafy porridges. The GI of rice porridge and coconut milk porridgewere measured to evaluate the effect of other ingredients other than the leaf extracts. Rice was the main contributor tocarbohydrate (56–68% on dry weight) and water was the main component in porridges (89–93%). Fat and totaldietary fibre contents ranged between 2.5–27% and 5–10%, respectively. The GI of all porridges was low (GI # 55), exceptCassia auriculata which had a high GI of 77 ^ 12. The GIs of coconut milk, Aerva lanata, Hemidesmus indicus, Scoparia dulcis,Asparagus racemosus, Cephalandra indica, Cardiospermum halicacabum, Murraya koenigii and Aegle marmelos were 31 ^ 5, 32 ^ 5,40 ^ 8, 39 ^ 8, 37 ^ 4, 49 ^ 8, 46 ^ 8, 44 ^ 8 and 50 ^ 8, respectively. All porridges had a low or medium glycaemic loads(#19). However, peak blood glucose reductions of $25% were observed in all leafy and coconut milk porridges, except inC. auriculata and Atlantia zeylanica, when compared with the glucose control. Therefore, green leafy porridges, except Cassia,can be recommended as breakfast meals for diabetics due to their low GI, peak blood glucose reduction and presence of othernutrients in green leaves.

Keywords: green leafy porridges, glycaemic indices, glycaemic response

Introduction

Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem in the

world with 7 million new cases diagnosed annually

(The Hindu 2009). The highest percentage of

diabetic cases is reported in the Asian continent.

Among Sri Lankans, 22% are diagnosed as dysgly-

caemic and the government is faced with an enormous

economic burden in providing health care facilities

(Wijesuriya 2010). Lifestyle changes have been

advocated as a primary measure in preventing or in

controlling this debilitating disease, as this leads to

many other complications in a person’s most

productive years. Among these changes, dietary

alterations play a vital role. It has been observed that

for every additional serving of green leafy vegetables a

day, there is an associated 9% reduction in diabetes

risk (Liu 2008).

Being a tropical country, green leafy vegetables and

fruits with high fibre are abundant and economically

feasible for most Sri Lankans. Green leafy vegetables

are utilized in many ways in Sri Lankan cuisine (i.e.

salads, curries and porridges) to supplement the

cereal-based traditional diets. Green leafy vegetables

are also a source of minerals (iron, calcium, potassium

and magnesium), vitamins (K, C, E and many of the B

vitamins) and phytonutrients (beta-carotene, lutein

zeaxanthin and phytosterols) (Dolson 2008).

The common Sri Lankan breakfast of porridge

made from using green leaves is thought helpful to

control glycaemic response and is a prevailing dietary

modification among Sri Lankans. Some of these green

leafy extracts are used in folk medicine to treat diabetes

in other countries (Yeh et al. 2003) and as used in

ISSN 0963-7486 print/ISSN 1465-3478 online q 2012 Informa UK, Ltd.

DOI: 10.3109/09637486.2012.710895

Correspondence: Sagarika Ekanayake, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura,Nugegoda, Sri Lanka. Tel: þ 94 11 28,03578, E-mail: sagarikae@hotmail.com

International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition,

March 2013; 64(2): 169–174

Int J

Foo

d Sc

i Nut

r D

ownl

oade

d fr

om in

form

ahea

lthca

re.c

om b

y U

nive

rsity

of

Nor

th T

exas

on

11/1

2/14

For

pers

onal

use

onl

y.

indigenous medicine in Sri Lanka (Ediriweera and

Ratnasooriya 2009).

A survey revealed that 90% of Sri Lankan diabetics

ingest herbal plants as porridge or water extracts to

control blood glucose with or without prior advice

from a physician (Ediriweera and Ratnasooriya

2009). Though water and ethanolic extracts of some

of the green leaves have proven hypoglycaemic effects

(Sivanandham et al. 2007), data on the efficacy of

controlling blood glucose, once the leaves are

incorporated in to porridge, are not currently

available.

The scope of this study was to determine the

proximate compositions, to estimate the post-prandial

glycaemic response and glycaemic index (GI) of green

leafy porridges, and to authenticate the claims on the

benefits of green leafy porridges on glycaemic

response.

Materials and methods

Materials

A bulk (10 kg) sample of 272 6B rice variety was

obtained from the Department of Agriculture

Regional Rice Research and Development Center,

Bombuwala, Sri Lanka. The fresh green leaves

Murraya koenigii spreng (Karapincha), Asparagus

racemosus (Haathawariya), Hemidesmus indicus

(Iramusu), Aegle marmelos (Beli), Cassia auriculata

Linn (Ranawara), Cardiospermum halicacabum (Wel

Penela), Aerva lanata (Polpala), Clitoria ternatea Linn.

(Ela katarolu), Scoparia dulcis (Wal koththamalli),

Atlantia zeylanica Linn. (Yaki narang), Osbeckia

octandra (Heen bovitiya) and Cephalandra indica

(Kowakka) were obtained from the market,

Nugegoda, Sri Lanka. Coconuts were purchased from

a retail shop in Galle, Sri Lanka.

Porridge preparation

The porridge recipes were standardized following a

sensory evaluation with the help of a non-trained panel

(n ¼ 10) of individuals. When preparing the porridge,

coconut milk obtained from 150 g of coconut kernel

blended with 400 ml of water was used. Green leaves

(40 g) were blended with 150 ml of coconut milk

obtained and 100 ml of water using a household

blender (Sumeet, India). The slurry was filtered

through a mesh (1 mm) and the filtrate was taken for

the porridge preparation. As this filtrate contains

mainly water and small portion of coconut milk,

filtrate may contain more water-soluble compounds

and minor amount of fat-soluble compounds.

Rice (25 g) was cooked by adding 250 ml of water.

The leaf extract (90 ml) mentioned above and water

(60 ml) were added to the cooked rice and salt was

added to taste. All porridges were cooked until the

final volume was approximately 300 ml (in the final

porridge, leaves:coconut milk:rice ¼ 13:90:25). Coco-

nut milk porridge was made with rice and coconut

milk in 25:90 ratio. Rice porridge was prepared with

rice and water (25:90).

Porridges, made according to the above method,

were blended (Philips, HR-2001, China) and lyophi-

lized to analyse the proximate composition, and freshly

prepared porridges (350–400 ml) were given to each

individual to determine the GI.

Proximate composition

The moisture and ash contents were measured by

AOAC official methods (1984) 14.004 and (1984)

7.009, respectively. Insoluble dietary fibre (IDF) and

soluble dietary fibre (SDF) were determined by the

method of Asp (Asp et al. 1983). The crude protein

was determined by Kjeldahl method using selenium

catalyst (N £ 5.83) (AOAC 1987) (AOAC 7.033-

7.037) and fat contents by Mojonneir method (Croon

1980). The digestible carbohydrate content was

measured by Holm’s method (Holm et al. 1986).

Estimation of GI

The study was designed as a random crossover study.

Ten healthy volunteers who were not under any medical

treatment (Body Mass Index (BMI) ¼ 18–25, age

25–30, fasting blood glucose level #110 mg/dL, peak

blood glucose level after consuming 25 g of glucose

#180 mg/dL) were selected and written consent was

obtained at the onset of the study. GI values were

estimated according to the slightly modified WHO/-

FAO (1998) and Wolever et al. (2003) methods.

Glucose was used as the standard reference food, and

the digestible carbohydrate content in the standard

(glucose) and the test foods was 25 g, as this portion

size was comparable with a normal intake. The

volunteers were asked to refrain from undergoing

vigorous exercise and alcohol consumption prior to the

study day. On arrival (8–10 h fast) fasting blood sugar

was measured by obtaining blood by capillary finger

prick. The volunteers were asked to consume the

control food (25 g anhydrous glucose dissolved in

250 ml water) or porridge (350–400 ml), which

contained 25 g of digestible carbohydrate in a single

portion size, within 10–15 min. Further, capillary

blood samples were obtained at 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120

intervals from the onset of food consumption. In line

with the WHO protocol, the standard reference food

(25 g glucose) was administered three times on

separate occasions. The percentage ratio of incre-

mental area under the curve (IAUC) for each porridge

and the average IAUC for glucose were taken as GI for

each individual. The GI values of all volunteers were

averaged to obtain the final GI values. The above

procedure was repeated for all green leafy porridges,

rice porridge and coconut milk porridge on separate

days, leaving 2–3 days gap after every experiment for

S. P. A. S. Senadheera and S. Ekanayake170

Int J

Foo

d Sc

i Nut

r D

ownl

oade

d fr

om in

form

ahea

lthca

re.c

om b

y U

nive

rsity

of

Nor

th T

exas

on

11/1

2/14

For

pers

onal

use

onl

y.

each volunteer. Glycaemic load (GL) was estimated by

multiplying the GI by the number of net carbohydrates

in a given serving (Galgani et al. 2006).

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics

Committee of Faculty of Medical Sciences, University

of Sri Jayewardenepura (Approval No. 476/09).

Volunteer consent was obtained after explaining the

procedure to the volunteers.

Statistical analysis

All data were analysed by Microsoft Excel 2007 and

ANOVA post-hoc test using SPSS version 13. The

outliers of the GI study were excluded by estimating

the Q values.

Results

The proximate composition data of the porridges are

stated in Table I. Moisture was the major component

in all porridges (89–93%). The digestible carbo-

hydrate content of the leafy porridges was not

significantly different ( p $ 0.05). Total dietary fibre

content varied between 5% and 10% on dry weight

(DW) basis. The fat content was in the range of

2.5–27%, with the lowest fat content observed in

rice porridge. Crude protein content varied between

4.1% and 9.5% with lower values for rice porridge,

H. indicus and Atlantia ceylanica.

Table II gives the GI values and peak blood glucose

reduction percentages. The GI of all porridges varied

from 31 to 255, except in C. auriculata which had a

high GI (77 ^ 12). Figure 1 presents the glycaemic

response curves of porridges having GI between (A)

25–35, (B) 36–45 and (C) 46–55, respectively. The

coconut milk and A. lanata porridges had the lowest

GIs. The GI of H. indicus, S. dulcis, A. racemosus,

C. indica, C. halicacabum, M. koenigii and A. marmelos

porridges varied from 36 to 50. Eight porridges elicited

a peak blood glucose reduction of more than 35%

when compared with the glucose control. Highest peak

blood glucose reduction percentages were observed in

coconut milk porridge, H. indicus, S. dulcis, A. lanata,

C. ternatea and C. halicacabum, which ranged from 38

to 40% and lowest was in A. zeylanica (15%). After

consuming the porridges, the blood glucose level

returned to, or below, baseline values within 2 h for

other porridges except for C. auriculata, A. zeylanica

and O. octandra. All porridges had a medium or low

GLs which were equal or less than 19.

Discussion

In all porridges, water was the main constituent on wet

weight basis and carbohydrate was the main com-

ponent on DW basis with no significant difference

Tab

leI.

Pro

xim

ate

com

posi

tion

sof

porr

idges

.

Porr

idge

Mois

ture

in

liq

uid

porr

idge*

Dig

esti

ble

carb

ohyd

rate

(g/1

00

gon

DW

basi

s)*

Inso

lub

led

ieta

ryfi

bre

(g/1

00

gon

DW

basi

s)*

Solu

ble

die

tary

fib

re

(g/1

00

gon

DW

basi

s)*

Fat

(g/1

00

gon

DW

basi

s)*

Cru

de

pro

tein

(g/1

00

gon

DW

basi

s)†

Ash

(g/1

00

g

on

DW

basi

s)*

Coco

nu

tm

ilk

porr

idge

92.5

^0.4

66.9

^4.8

4.5

^0.3

4.8

^0.5

16.8

^0.9

5.6

^1.4

3.2

^0.6

Ric

ep

orr

idge

92.2

^1.7

72.9

^5.6

4.4

^0.4

4.9

^0.5

2.5

^0.9

4.8

^0.5

6.6

^1.2

M.koenigiispre

ng

(Kara

pin

cha)

92.5

^0.4

60.2

^5.1

6.9

^1.1

1.1

^0.4

23.3

^1.3

6.9

^0.2

3.1

^0.9

H.indic

us

(Ira

mu

su)

90.7

^0.3

59.1

^2.0

7.2

^0.3

1.1

^0.7

13.8

^1.2

4.3

^0.6

5.4

^1.1

A.marm

elos

(Bel

i)92.1

^0.8

62.7

^4.7

6.1

^0.4

1.7

^0.3

16.4

^1.0

7.8

^0.4

4.8

^2.3

C.auricula

taL

inn

(Ran

aw

ara

)90.3

^1.6

59.7

^3.4

8.1

^0.4

1.7

^0.2

15.9

^2.2

6.6

^0.8

5.5

^1.5

C.ternatea

Lin

n.

(Ela

kata

rolu

)89.1

^0.3

58.1

^6.7

5.6

^0.4

2.5

^0.5

19.1

^4.0

9.2

^0.2

3.1

^2.4

C.halicaca

bu

m(W

elP

enel

a)

89.1

^0.2

62.1

^2.3

3.4

^0.6

1.7

^0.2

21.1

^2.0

6.7

^0.3

2.6

^2.2

A.zeyla

nic

aL

inn

.(Y

aki

nara

ng)

92.1

^1.2

64.1

^4.9

5.5

^0.6

3.2

^0.9

19.2

^2.8

4.1

^0.5

3.5

^0.7

C.indic

a(K

ow

akka)

91.8

^1.0

56.6

^9.4

2.0

^0.7

4.5

^0.2

19.1

^2.1

9.5

^0.3

3.6

^0.9

O.octand

ra(H

een

bovit

iya)

93.6

^0.5

64.0

^2.8

7.6

^0.1

3.0

^0.3

14.4

^0.7

9.2

^0.5

2.2

^1.0

A.lanata

(Polp

ala

)93.4

^0.2

62.1

^2.1

4.8

^1.3

2.9

^0.3

23.6

^4.8

6.2

^0.7

2.3

^1.0

A.racemos

us

(haath

awaari

ya)

92.0

^1.0

61.9

^2.2

5.0

^0.7

2.3

^0.2

27.6

^0.9

6.4

^0.7

1.8

^2.1

S.dulc

is(W

al

koth

tham

alli)

91.8

^0.2

68.6

^2.4

4.8

^0.3

1.3

^0.2

16.4

^0.9

6.7

^0.2

3.1

^1.4

*N

¼6;

†N

¼3.

Glycaemic responses of green leafy porridges 171

Int J

Foo

d Sc

i Nut

r D

ownl

oade

d fr

om in

form

ahea

lthca

re.c

om b

y U

nive

rsity

of

Nor

th T

exas

on

11/1

2/14

For

pers

onal

use

onl

y.

( p $ 0.05) in each component. Rice was the main

source of carbohydrate of which equal amounts were

used for porridge preparation. The lowest fat content

was observed in rice porridge which was made without

adding coconut milk.

The variation observed in the fat content of leafy

porridges may be due to the state of maturity of

coconuts used for various porridge preparations and

may be due to the fat/fat soluble substances present in

leaves, which could have been extracted during

porridge preparation. The reason for high crude

protein content in leafy porridges may be due to the

extracted chlorophyll and other nitrogenous com-

pounds from leaves. Comparatively lower crude

protein values were obtained for rice porridge,

H. indicus and A. ceylanica which could be due to lack

of other nitrogenous compounds. This was reflected

by the lower green colour in the freeze-dried porridges.

Table II. GI values and peak blood glucose reduction percentages.

Porridge GI ^ SEM

Coefficient of

of variation (GI)

Peak reduction compared

with glucose (%)

Glucose – 0.5 –

Coconut milk porridge (Cocos nucifera) 31 ^ 5*,#,** 0.6 40

Rice porridge 46 ^ 17* 0.5 31

M. koenigii spreng (Karapincha) 44 ^ 8# 0.6 35

H. indicus (Iramusu) 40 ^ 8# 0.7 40

A. marmelos (Beli) 50 ^ 8 0.5 34

C. auriculata Linn. (Ranawara) 77 ^ 12†,‡,{,k 0.5 21

C. ternatea Linn. (Ela katarolu) 53 ^ 10 0.6 38

C. halicacabum (Wel Penela) 46 ^ 8# 0.6 38

A. zeylanica Linn. (Yaki narang) 52 ^ 13 0.8 15

C. indica (Kowakka) 49 ^ 8 0.5 27

Osbeckia ocrandra (Heen bovitiya) 55 ^ 7** 0.4 29

A. lanata (Polpala) 32 ^ 5*,#,** 0.5 38

A. racemosus (Haathawaariya) 37 ^ 4*,# 0.4 42

S. dulcis (Wal koththamalli) 39 ^ 8# 0.6 39

N ¼ 10. *Significantly different from O. ocrandra; † Significantly different from S. dulcis; ‡ Significantly different from A. lanata; {Significantly

different from H. indicus; k Significantly different from M. koenigii spreng; # Significantly different from Cassia auriculata; ** Significantly different

from rice porridge.

160.0A B

C D

140.0

120.0

100.0

80.0

60.0

40.0

20.0

0.0

160.0

140.0

120.0

100.0

80.0

60.0

40.0

20.0

0.0

160.0

140.0

120.0

100.0

80.0

60.0

40.0

20.0

0.0

160.0

140.0

120.0

100.0

80.0

60.0

40.0

20.0

0.0

0 30 45 60 90 120

Time (min)

0 30 45 60 90 120

Time (min)

0 30 45 60 90 120

Time (min)

0 30 45 60 90 120

Time (min)

Glucose

Glucose

GlucoseGlucose

Rice porridge

Cephalandra indica

Ela katarolu

Cardiospermum halicacabum

Aegle marmelos

Atlantia zeylanica Linn.

Cephalandra Indica

Osbeckia ocrandra

Cassia

Hemidesmus indicus

Scoparia dulcis

Asparagus racemosus

Murraya koenigii spreng

Coconut milk porridge

Aerva lanata

Glu

cose

con

cent

ratio

n (m

g/dL

)G

luco

se c

once

ntra

tion

(mg/

dL)

Glu

cose

con

cent

ratio

n (m

g/dL

)G

luco

se c

once

ntra

tion

(mg/

dL)

Figure 1. Glycaemic responses of porridges compared with glucose control. (A) GI 25–35, (B) GI 36–45, (C) GI 46–55 and (D) glucose

response curve for C. auriculata compared with glucose control.

S. P. A. S. Senadheera and S. Ekanayake172

Int J

Foo

d Sc

i Nut

r D

ownl

oade

d fr

om in

form

ahea

lthca

re.c

om b

y U

nive

rsity

of

Nor

th T

exas

on

11/1

2/14

For

pers

onal

use

onl

y.

Rice and coconut milk porridges had comparable

proximate composition values except for fat and ash.

The GI of all porridges studied was low (GI # 55),

except for C. auriculata which had a high GI

(77 ^ 12). When compared with the reported

hypoglycaemic effects (Vetrichelvan and Jegadeesan

2002; Mathews et al. 2006; Sivanandham et al. 2007;

Tembhurne and Sakarkar 2010), a significant acute

hypoglycaemic effect was not observed from any of the

leafy porridges in this study, as all leafy porridges along

with rice and coconut milk porridge (without leaf

extract) elicited a low GI. According to literature, the

hypoglycaemic effects of the leaves were seen following

administration of 400 mg/kg BW of water extract,

dried leaf powder (Gohil et al. 2010). In this study, the

amount of leaf dry matter in porridges was approxi-

mately 35 mg/kg BW and is not sufficient to cause an

acute hypoglycaemic effect.

In this study, coconut milk porridge also elicited a

low GI which was comparable with that of green leafy

porridges. Though fatty acids (lauric, palmitic and

oleic acids) in coconut oil are reported to reduce starch

hydrolyzing enzyme activity (Crowe et al. 2000),

swelling of starch granules and increase gelatinization

time (Leach 1965; Heckman 1977) and formation of

amylose-lipid complexes which further reduce starch

digestion (Kulwinder and Singh 2000), a significant

difference in starch digestion was not observed

between porridge made with coconut milk extract

and porridge made with a water extract, indicating the

insufficiency of the amount of coconut fat in porridge

(unpublished data) to reduce the glycaemic response.

Therefore, it can be said that the high water content

may be contributing to a low GI of all porridges, by

reducing the oral and gastrointestinal starch digesting

enzymes activity (Kurahashi and Inomatab 1999) and

by delaying the digestion of starch leading to a lower

glycaemic response. However, when compared with

ingestion of coconut porridge, consumption of green

leafy porridges will have added advantages due to

additional nutrient contribution.

C. auriculata, which has proven hypoglycaemic

activities by potentiating binding of insulin to

receptors (Gupta et al. 2009), had a high GI when

compared with other green leafy porridges which

were made with same ingredients. Therefore, it can

be hypothesized that this effect may be due to some

compounds present in C. auriculata, which may reduce

glucose clearance from blood or increase glucose

absorption from intestine, depending on the concen-

tration thereby increasing the hyperglycaemia.

All porridges had a low or medium GLs (#19). The

GL values were lower than the glycaemic loads of

commonly consumed Sri Lankan breakfast meals like

roti (Widanagamage et al. 2009) and mixed rice meal

(Hettiaratchi et al. 2011).

In this, peak blood glucose reduction percentages in

porridges compared with glucose control varied from

15% to 42%. Peak blood glucose reductions of $25%

were observed in all leafy and coconut milk porridges,

except in C. auriculata and A. zeylanica. A GI study

carried out using a normal Sri Lankan mixed meal (red

rice, lentil curry, boiled egg, coconut milk curry and

Centella asiatica salad) had a blood glucose peak

reduction of 25–37% (Hettiaratchi et al. 2011), which

was comparable with the peak reduction percentages

of this study.

Thus, long-term consumption of the porridges may

be beneficial for diabetics due to the lower glycaemic

responses and lower blood sugar peak elicited. Other

bioactive compounds and nutrients in green leafy

vegetables would also contribute to added health

benefits.

Conclusions

The green leafy porridges except C. auriculata elicited

low GI values (#55). Lowest GIs were seen in coconut

milk porridge and A. lanata. Although all leaves of

this study, except A. zeylanica, have proven hypo-

glycaemic effects, the amount of active compounds in

porridges is not sufficient to cause a significant acute

effect on blood glucose. This study indicates that the

low GI value obtained for all the porridges (including

rice and coconut milk porridge) could be mainly due

to the high water content. All porridges have low or

medium GLs (#19). The reduction in peak blood

glucose was highest in A. racemosus (42%) and was

lowest in A. zeylanica (15%).

As low GI foods are recommended for diabetics and

obese, green leafy porridges can be considered as a

healthy breakfast food which not only has low GI and

elicit lower glucose peak but also may provide many

other nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and

antioxidants.

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to the volunteers who

participated in the study.

Declaration of interest: The financial support

by ASP/06/PR/2010/12, IPICS: SRI:07 and NRC,

Sri Lanka 03–05 are gratefully acknowledged.

References

Asp NG, Hallmer H, Siljestrom M. 1983. Rapid enzymatic assay of

insoluble and soluble dietary fibre. J Agric Food Chem 31:

476–478.

Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 1984. Official Methods

of Analysis of the AOAC. 14th ed., Washington, DC: AOAC.

p 7.009.

Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 1984. Official Methods

of Analysis of the AOAC. 14th ed., Washington, DC: AOAC.

p 14.004.

Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 1987. Official Methods

of Analysis of the AOAC. Washington, DC: AOAC.

p 7.033–7.037.

Glycaemic responses of green leafy porridges 173

Int J

Foo

d Sc

i Nut

r D

ownl

oade

d fr

om in

form

ahea

lthca

re.c

om b

y U

nive

rsity

of

Nor

th T

exas

on

11/1

2/14

For

pers

onal

use

onl

y.

Croon LB. 1980. Setthaltsbestamning I mgol och mjolprodketer

(crude fat analysis of different flours and flour products). Var

Foda 32:425–427.

Crowe TC, Seligman SA, Copeland L. 2000. Inhibition of enzymic

digestion of amylose by free fatty acids in vitro contributes to

resistant starch formation. J Nutr 130(8):2006–2008.

Dolson L. 2008. Green leafy vegetables – nutritional powerhouses,

[Online]. Available at: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/

nutrition/u/healthnutrition.htm. Accessed on 15 October 2011.

Ediriweera ERHSS, Ratnasooriya WD. 2009. A review on herbs

used in treatment of diabetes mellitus in Sri Lankan ayurvedic

and traditional physicians. AYU 30(4):373–391.

FAO/WHO 1998. Carbohydrates in human nutrition: report of a

joint FAO/WHO expert consultation. FAO Food and Nutrition

Paper 66. p 1–140.

Galgani J, Aguirre C, Dıaz E. 2006. Acute effect of meal glycemic

index and glycemic load on blood glucose and insulin responses

in humans. Nutr J 5:22.

Gohil T, Pathak N, Jivani N, Devmurari V, Patel J. 2010. Treatment

with extracts of Eugenia jambolana seed and Aegle marmelos leaf

extracts prevents hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia in alloxan

induced diabetic rats. Afr J Pharm Pharmacol 4(5):270–275.

Gupta S, Sharma SB, Prabhu KM, Bansal SK. 2009. Protective role

of Cassia auriculata leaf extract on hyperglycemia-induced

oxidative stress and its safety evaluation. Indian J Biochem

Biophys 46(5):371–377.

Heckman E. 1977. Starch and its modification for food industry.

In: Graham HD, editor. Food colloids. Westport, CT: The Avi

Publishing Company, Inc.

Hettiaratchi UPK, Ekanayake S, Welihinda J. 2011. Sri Lankan rice

mixed meals: effect on glycaemic index and contribution to daily

dietary fibre requirement. Mal J Nutr 17(1):97–104.

Holm J, Drews A, Asp NG. 1986. A rapid method for the analysis of

starch. Starch/Starke 38:224–226.

The Hindu. 2009. India heading for diabetes explosion, warns global

meet, Montreal, October 20, 2009. [Online] Available at: http://

www.thehindu.com/health/policy-and-issues/article36,108.ece.

Accessed on 14 October 2010.

Kulwinder K, Singh N. 2000. Amylose-lipid complex formation

during cooking of rice flour. J Food Chem 71:511–517.

Kurahashi M, Inomatab K. 1999. Effects of dietary consistency and

water content on parotid amylase secretion and gastric starch

digestion in rats. Archives of Oral Biology 44(12):1013–1019.

Leach HW. 1965. Gelatinization of starch. In: Whistler RL,

Paschall EF, editors. Starch: chemistry and technology.

New York: Academic Press.

Liu D. 2008. Green leafy vegetables cut diabetes risk. [Online]

Available on: http://foodconsumer.org/7777/8888/G_eneral_H_

ealth_34/062,60428,2008_Green_leafy_vegetables_cut_diab

etes_risk.shtml. Accessed on 14 June 2010.

Mathews JN, Flatt PR, Abdel-Wahab YH. 2006. Asparagus

adscendens (Shweta musali) stimulates insulin secretion, insulin

action and inhibits starch digestion. Br J Nutr 95:576–581.

Sivanandham V, Mohaideen V, Begum H. 2007. Modulatory role of

Asperagus racemosus on glucose homeostasis in aged rats. Int J

Pharmacol 3(2):149–154.

Tembhurne SV, Sakarkar DM. 2010. Protective effect of Murraya

koenigii (L.) leaves extract in streptozotocin induced diabetics

rats involving possible antioxidant mechanism. J Med Plants Res

4(22):2418–2423.

Vetrichelvan T, Jegadeesan M. 2002. Anti-diabetic activity of

alcoholic extract of Aerva lanata (L.) Juss. ex Schultes in rats.

J Ethnopharmacol 80(2-3):103–107.

Widanagamage R, Ekanayake S, Welihinda J. 2009. Carbohydrate-

rich foods: glycaemic indices and the effect of constituent

macronutrients. Int J Food Sci Nutr 60(4):215–223(9).

Wijesuriya M. 2010. Diabetes Association of Sri Lanka. [Online]

Available at: http://ceycollphysicians.org/images/diabetes%

20in%20the%20young%20col%20of%20physicians%20april%

20,2011.pdf. Accessed on 14 October 2010.

Wolever TMS, Vorster HH, Bjork I, Brand-Miller J, Brighenti F,

Mann JI, Ramdath DD, Granfeldt Y, Holt S, Perry TL, Venter C,

Wu X. 2003. Determination of the glycaemic index of foods:

interlaboratory study. Euro J Clin Nutr 57:475–482.

Yeh GY, Eisenberg DM, Kaptchuk TJ, Phillips RS. 2003. Systematic

review of herbs and dietary supplements for glycemic control in

diabetes. Diab Care 26(4):1277–1294.

S. P. A. S. Senadheera and S. Ekanayake174

Int J

Foo

d Sc

i Nut

r D

ownl

oade

d fr

om in

form

ahea

lthca

re.c

om b

y U

nive

rsity

of

Nor

th T

exas

on

11/1

2/14

For

pers

onal

use

onl

y.