Vinegar dressing and cold storage of potatoes lowers postprandial glycaemic and insulinaemic responses in healthy subjects.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effects of cold storage and vinegar addition on glycaemic and insulinaemic responses to a potato meal in healthy subjects.

SUBJECTS AND SETTING

A total of 13 healthy subjects volunteered for the study, and the tests were performed at Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry, Lund University, Sweden. Experimental design and test meals:The study included four meals; freshly boiled potatoes, boiled and cold stored potatoes (8 degrees C, 24 h), boiled and cold stored potatoes (8 degrees C, 24 h) with addition of vinaigrette sauce (8 g olive oil and 28 g white vinegar (6% acetic acid)) and white wheat bread as reference. All meals contained 50 g available carbohydrates and were served as a breakfast in random order after an overnight fast. Capillary blood samples were collected at time intervals during 120 min for analysis of blood glucose and serum insulin. Glycaemic (GI) and insulinaemic indices (II) were calculated from the incremental areas using white bread as reference.

RESULTS

Cold storage of boiled potatoes increased resistant starch (RS) content significantly from 3.3 to 5.2% (starch basis). GI and II of cold potatoes added with vinegar (GI/II=96/128) were significantly reduced by 43 and 31%, respectively, compared with GI/II of freshly boiled potatoes (168/185). Furthermore, cold storage per se lowered II with 28% compared with the corresponding value for freshly boiled potatoes.

CONCLUSION

Cold storage of boiled potatoes generated appreciable amounts of RS. Cold storage and addition of vinegar reduced acute glycaemia and insulinaemia in healthy subjects after a potato meal. The results show that the high glycaemic and insulinaemic features commonly associated with potato meals can be reduced by use of vinegar dressing and/or by serving cold potato products.