Assessing Glycaemic Index Utility: From Bench to Bedside

Glycaemic index (GI) categorizes carbohydrate-containing food according to postprandial glycaemic effect. The Canadian Diabetes Association supports integration of GI-education into standard care for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Notwithstanding, most Canadian RDs identify as “non-users”; citing a need for studies examining GI-mechanism and GI-efficacy and a lack of reliable educational materials as barriers to GI-utility. These barriers highlight practice-based research opportunities spanning bench-to-bedside, such as: The examination of novel metabolic pathways and evaluation of low GI-education/ diet effectiveness using established markers of utility. The overall purpose of this dissertation was to address, experimentally, gaps in the literature, highlighted by educators as barriers to GI-utility. METHODS: Three studies were completed. Study one examined the effect of slowing carbohydrate absorption on postprandial oxidative stress (novel GI-mechanism) in overweight/obese participants (n=18). Study two involved the development and evaluation of a questionnaire designed to evaluate an evidence-based GI-education platform for DM (n = 29), using a one-armed pre/post-intervention pre-test design. Study three (RCT; n=99) was performed to evaluate the effect of the low GI-education platform on glycaemic control in women with GDM using the questionnaire pre-tested in study two. RESULTS: Sipping 75g dextrose solution slowly over 3.5h reduced postprandial oxidative stress compared to consuming it over 5min. Studies two and three showed that participants who received GI-education were satisfied with the education, showed a significant increase in GI-knowledge score (36%; pPh.D.2018-02-09 00:00:0