Plasma glucose response and glycemic indices in pigs fed diets differing in in vitro hydrolysis indices

Different dietary starch sources can have a great impact in determining starch digestion potential, thus influencing the postprandial blood glucose response. Our objectives were to define: (i) the incremental plasma glucose response in pigs fed diets containing various sources of starch differing in in vitro digestion patterns, (ii) the in vivo glycemic index (GI) values for the same diets, (iii) the possible relationship between in vitro and in vivo data. Diets, formulated with 70% of starch from five heterogeneous sources, were characterized in depth by using two distinct in vitro evaluations. The first one was based on the Englyst-assay for nutritional classification of starch fractions, whereas the second one was based on a time-course multi-enzymatic assay up to 180 min from which the hydrolysis indices (HIs) were calculated and used as a link between the physicochemical properties of starch from diets and the in vivo responses. For the in vivo study, five jugular-catheterized pigs (35.3 ± 1.1 kg body weight) were fed one of the five diets for 6-day periods in a 5 × 5 Latin square design. On day 5, blood was collected for 8 h postprandially for evaluating glucose appearance. On day 6, blood was collected for 3 h postprandially for the estimation of the GI. Starchy diets differed for rapidly digestible starch (from 8.6% to 79.8% of total starch (TS)) and resistant starch contents (from 72.5% to 4.5% of TS). Wide between-diets variations were recorded for all the kinetic parameters and for the HI calculated from the in vitro digestion curves (P < 0.05). On the basis of the obtained HI, diets contained starch with a very low to a very high in vitro digestion potential (ranging from 26.7% to 100.0%; P < 0.05). The glucose response differed among diets (P < 0.05), with marked differences between 15 and 120 min postprandial. Overall, the ranking of incremental glucose appearance among diets agreed with their in vitro HI classification: high HI diets increased plasma glucose response more (P < 0.05) than low HI diets. Lastly, different in vivo GIs were measured (ranging from 30.9% to 100.0%; P < 0.05). The relationship between HI and GI showed a high coefficient of determination (R² = 0.95; root mean square error (RMSE) = 15.8; P < 0.05). In conclusion, diets formulated with starches with a wide range in HI potential can strongly affect the postprandial glucose response in pigs.