Enhanced secretion of satiety-promoting gut hormones in healthy humans following consumption of white bread enriched with cellular chickpea flour: A randomized cross-over study

Bajka BH, Pinto AM, Perez-Moral N, Saha S, Ryden P, Ahn-Jarvi J, van der, Bland C, Berry SE, Ellis PR, Edwards C. (2022)

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Background

Dietary intake of pulses is associated with beneficial effects on body weight management and cardiometabolic health, but some of these effects are now known to depend on integrity of plant cells which are usually disrupted by flour milling. Novel cellular flours preserve the intrinsic dietary fiber structure of whole pulses and provide a way to enrich pre-processed foods with encapsulated macronutrients.

Objective

To determine the effects of replacing wheat flour with cellular chickpea flour on postprandial gut hormones, glucose, insulin, and satiety responses to white bread.

Design

We conducted a double-blind randomized cross-over study in which postprandial blood samples and scores were collected from healthy human participants (n=20) after they consumed bread enriched with 0, 30 or 60% (w/w) chickpea cell powder (CCP) (50 g total starch per serving).

Results

Bread type significantly impacted on postprandial Glucagon-Like Protein 1 (GLP-1) and Peptide YY (PYY) responses (time x treatment, P=0.001 for both). The 60% CCP breads elicited significantly elevated and sustained release of these anorexigenic hormones (mean difference between 0 and 60% CPP for GLP-1 iAUC of 3101 pM.min^-1, 95% CI, 1891, 4310, adj.P<0.001, and for PYY iAUC of 3576 pM.min^-1, 95% CI, 1024, 6128, adj.P=0.006), and tended to increase fullness (time x treatment, P=0.053). Bread type also significantly influenced glycemia and insulinemia (time x treatment P=<0.001, 0.006 and 0.001 for glucose, insulin and C-peptide), with 30% CCP breads eliciting a >40% lower glucose iAUC (adj.P<0.001) compared to the 0% CCP bread. Our in vitro studies revealed slow digestion of intact chickpea cells and provide a mechanistic explanation for the physiological effects.

Conclusion

The novel use of intact chickpea cells to replace refined flours in a white bread stimulates an anorexigenic gut hormone response and has potential to improve dietary strategies for prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic diseases.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

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