• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.14-23
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• 2015

This study examined the glycemic indices (GIs) and glycemic loads of carbohydrate-rich snacks in Korea according to variety and cooking method. The most popular carbohydrate snacks (corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, chestnuts, and red beans) from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey nutrient database were cooked using a variety of conventional cooking methods (steaming, baking, porridge, puffing, and frying). The GIs of foods were measured in 60 healthy males after receiving permission from the University Hospital institutional review board (KMC IRB 1306-01). Blood glucose and insulin levels were then measured at 0, 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min after consuming glucose, and each test food contained 50 g of carbohydrates (corn: 170.0 g, potatoes: 359.7 g, sweet potatoes: 160.3 g, chestnuts: 134.8 g, red beans: 73.1 g). GI values for test foods were calculated based on the increase in the area under the blood glucose response curve for each subject. Steamed potatoes ($93.6{\pm}11.6$), corn porridge ($91.8{\pm}19.5$), baked sweet potatoes ($90.9{\pm}9.6$), baked potatoes ($78.2{\pm}14.5$), steamed corn ($73.4{\pm}9.9$), and steamed sweet potatoes ($70.8{\pm}6.1$) were shown to be considered high GI foods, whereas baked chestnuts ($54.3{\pm}6.3$), red bean porridge ($33.1{\pm}5.5$), steamed red beans ($22.1{\pm}3.2$), fried potatoes ($41.5{\pm}7.8$), and ground and pan-fried potatoes ($28.0{\pm}5.1$) were considered as low GI foods. The results suggest that the cooking method of carbohydrate-rich snacks is an important determinant of GI values.