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BACKGROUNDSorghum, a small-seeded grass, is an important food crop and chief energy source for the people of semi-arid regions of the world. In India, sorghum production/consumption decreased after the green revolution’, but it is now regaining momentum owing to numerous health and nutritional benefits. An understanding of the glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) of staples can help in choosing suitable foods for the prevention and control of diabetes. In view of this, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the GI and GL of different sorghum foods and compare them with those of wheat/rice based foods.

RESULTSThe GI of sorghum-based foods such as coarse semolina upma (P<0.05), fine semolina upma (P<0.01), flakes poha (P<0.01) and pasta (P<0.01) was significantly lower than that of their respective control (wheat/rice-based) foods. All sorghum-based foods showed significantly lower GL (P<0.01) than their respective control (wheat/rice-based) foods.

CONCLUSIONA few sorghum-based products have low GI (<55; coarse semolina upma, fine semolina upma, flakes poha and pasta) and all sorghum-based products (with the exception of sorghum roti) tested in the present study have lower GL than their respective wheat/rice-based foods. Consumption of low-GI and low-GL sorghum-based foods may help in decreasing postprandial blood glucose levels. (c) 2014 Society of Chemical Industry