Whole Grains, Legumes, and the Subsequent Meal Effect: Implications for Blood Glucose Control and the Role of Fermentation

Table 1

Subsequent meal effect of whole grains and lentils.

Study	Initial/; 1st meal	Subsequent meal	Time between meals (h)	Control food^#	Test food	Complete meal (Y/N)	Effect of test food on glucose at subsequent meal	Breath hydrogen (fermentation)
Jenkins; et al.* [13]	B/F	Lunch	4	WWB	Lentils	Y	↓ AUC by 38%	↑ 200%
Wolever et al. [14]
(1)	Dinner	B/F	?	Glucose	Lentils	N	↓ AUC	N/A
(2)	Dinner	B/F	?	WWB	Whole meal bread	N	=
(3)	Dinner	B/F	?	Bread and potato	Lentil and barley	Y	= AUC; ↓ mean postprandial [G]
Liljeberg; et al. [10]	B/F	Lunch	4	WWB	Barley bread (long, slow cooking) + BF	Y	↓ only with added BF, not barley bread alone	N/A
Granfeldt; et al. [15]	Dinner	B/F	?	WWB	Barley kernels	N	↓ AUC	N/A
Samra and Anderson [16]	B/F	Lunch^†	1.25	WWB/ Cornflakes	Fiber One cereal	Y	↓ AUC
Nilsson et al. [17]	Dinner	B/F	10.5	WWB	Barley kernels orcut barley	N	↓ AUC by 28%	↑
							↓ peak [G]
Nilsson et al. [18]	Dinner	B/F	10.5	WWB/ Spaghetti	Spaghetti + high-dose BF	N	↓ AUC	↑
Nilsson et al. [11]	B/F	Lunch	4	WWB	Rye kernels	N	↓ AUC	↑
					Oat		= AUC	=
					Barley kernels		↓ AUC	↑
		Dinner	10.5	WWB	Rye kernels	N	↓ AUC	=
					Oat		= AUC	↑
					Barley kernels		↓ AUC	↑

B/F: breakfast; AUC: area under the curve; WWB; white wheat bread; BF: barley fiber; [G]: glucose concentration.
All meals matched for available CHO except for*.
^#Control foods were not prepared with whole grains.
^†The timing of the subsequent meal (1.25 h after BF) is too short for the second meal to be considered “lunch”.