Description

The Glycemic response of three varieties if premature plantain (Musa paradisiacal) were assessed using thirty-five healthy subjects. The post prandial serum glycose concentration over a period of 3hr were determined half-hourly. Blood glucose curves were constructed to calculate the glycemic index of the test foods. The results revealed that the premature plantain meals from the three varieties had moderate glycemic indices (55 to 70). The glycemic indices of premature boiled plantain (pbp) and premature plantain flour (ppf) meals did not show very significant difference at (p <0.05) from the three varieties. However, the premature boiled plantain meals had significantly p>0.05 lower glycemic load (GL) when compared to the premature plantain flour meals the concept of the glycemic load can be best used for the fine-tuning post prandial responses after focusing on total carbohydrate.

Key Words: Premature plantain, glycemic index, blood glucose diabetes.