Descrizione del progetto
Una guida del consumatore per ridurre la risposta glicemica ai cibi amidacei
I cibi amidacei rappresentano uno dei componenti principali della nostra dieta. Essi forniscono fino alla metà del nostro fabbisogno energetico e, poiché l’amido è fatto esclusivamente di glucosio, questi alimenti svolgono un ruolo importante nei livelli di glucosio nel sangue. Un elevato livello di glucosio nel sangue è legato ad una serie di malattie croniche e la velocità con cui l’amido in un dato alimento viene digerito è direttamente correlata ai livelli di glucosio nel sangue (cioè la risposta glicemica). In parole povere, gli alimenti amidacei digeriti rapidamente portano ad alti livelli di glucosio nel sangue. Tale effetto può tuttavia essere contrastato da un’adeguata combinazione con altri alimenti. Il progetto GlucoMatchMaker, finanziato dall’UE, sta sviluppando la prima applicazione mobile per aiutare le persone a mescolare e abbinare alimenti amidacei con altri alimenti e bevande per attenuare le risposte glicemiche.
Obiettivo
Low pH foods can attenuate the glycemic response to starch-rich foods. It has been demonstrated that lemon juice, due to its low pH (pH≈2.3) inhibited key digestive enzymes thereby interrupting gastric digestion of starch in vitro. This effect can significantly reduce the glycemic response in humans. In particular, adding lemon juice to a starch rich meal reduced the mean blood glucose concentration peak by 30%. Considering the panoply of food options available, it is likely that other combinations have similar effects but no work has been conducted to develop a consolidated knowledge base to exploit this strategy.
GlucoMatchMaker will go beyond the state-of-the art by addressing this knowledge gap. The main goal is to develop and test the real-life effectiveness of the first mobile app to guide individuals on how to mix and match starchy foods with other foods/beverages to attenuate glycemic responses.
The research work will employ multidisciplinary knowledge and methodologies and is divided into 4 parts (1) Selection and characterization of starch-rich foods, low-pH foods/beverages and of how their combination influences starch digestion in vitro (WP1). (2) Determination of the conditions of effectiveness of these combinations (in silico models) (WP2). (3) Development of the first mobile app that will integrate this knowledge to guide the user on how to mix and match starch-rich foods with others to lower their glycemic impact (WP3). (4) Test the effectiveness of the developed strategy in a real-life context (WP4).
This project addresses the United Nations and EU target to reduce premature mortality from non-communicable diseases by one third as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The research plan was developed in the framework of “H2020 Work Programme - Health, demographic change and wellbeing”, specifically the aim to “translate new knowledge into innovative applications and accelerate large-scale uptake and deployment”.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
R93 Carlow
Irlanda