Leone Alessandro, Menichetti Francesca, Criscuoli Franca, Fiorillo Giovanni, Ravasenghi Stefano, Casiraghi Maria Cristina, Bertoli Simona
International Center for the Assessment of Nutritional Status and the development of Dietary Intervention Strategies (ICANS-DIS), Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), University of Milan, Via Sandro Botticelli 21, Milan, 20133, Italy.
IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Clinical Nutrition Unit, Department of Endocrine and Metabolic Medicine, Milan, 20100, Italy.
Nutr Metab (Lond). 2025 Aug 6;22(1):93. doi: 10.1186/s12986-025-00990-5.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major public health issue and the third leading cause of death globally. In the conservative phase of CKD, a low-protein diet is recommended to slow disease progression, and protein-free products are commonly used in clinical nutrition for CKD. Since diabetes is highly prevalent in this population, it is crucial that such foods also have a low glycemic index (GI) to support glycemic control and reduce associated complications. This study aimed to assess the GI of selected commercial protein-free products.
Twelve healthy volunteers (six males, six females; mean age 20.7 ± 0.8 years; BMI 22.6 ± 3.6 kg/m²) consumed four commonly available protein-free foods: sliced white bread, pasta, crackers, and cookies filled with vanilla cream (with sweeteners). The GI of each product was calculated according to ISO 2010 standards, using glucose as a reference. Each test meal provided 50 g of available carbohydrates.
GI values ranged from 48 for cookies filled with vanilla cream to 69 for crackers. Sliced white bread (GI 49.4) and cookies (GI 47.8) were classified as low-GI foods, while pasta (GI 68.2) and crackers (GI 69.2) fell within the medium-GI range.
Several commercially available protein-free products exhibit low to moderate GI values, supporting their use in dietary management of patients with non-dialysis-dependent CKD and or at risk of diabetes. However, given the growing market of such products, further studies-including those on patients with CKD-are needed to expand the current evidence base.
慢性肾脏病（CKD）是一个重大的公共卫生问题，是全球第三大死亡原因。在CKD的保守治疗阶段，建议采用低蛋白饮食以减缓疾病进展，临床营养中常用于CKD的无蛋白产品。由于糖尿病在该人群中高度流行，此类食品还具有低血糖指数（GI）以支持血糖控制并减少相关并发症至关重要。本研究旨在评估所选市售无蛋白产品的GI。
12名健康志愿者（6名男性，6名女性；平均年龄20.7±0.8岁；BMI 22.6±3.6kg/m²）食用了四种常见的无蛋白食品：切片白面包、意大利面、饼干和香草奶油夹心饼干（含甜味剂）。根据ISO 2010标准，以葡萄糖为参照计算每种产品的GI。每餐提供50g可利用碳水化合物。
GI值范围从香草奶油夹心饼干的48到饼干的69。切片白面包（GI 49.4）和饼干（GI 47.8）被归类为低GI食品，而意大利面（GI 68.2）和饼干（GI 69.2）属于中等GI范围。
几种市售无蛋白产品表现出低至中等的GI值，支持其用于非透析依赖型CKD患者和/或糖尿病风险患者的饮食管理。然而，鉴于此类产品市场不断扩大，需要进一步研究——包括对CKD患者的研究——以扩大当前的证据基础。
