Functional Components of Low Glycemic Foods

Dear Colleagues,

Low glycemic food, produced with a focus on carbohydrate quality, is becoming more and more popular due to its various health benefits and the prevalence of diabetes. However, the question of how to improve the quality of carbohydrates, especially for cereal-dominant products, remains a great challenge. Due to many low-GI foods being whole-grain foods, studying the health benefits of whole-grain food might provide some insight into the development of low-GI food. As dietary fibers, polyphenols and other nutrients constitute the basis of whole-grain foods, their interaction with glycemic carbohydrates, particularly starch, is becoming a strategy to improve carbohydrate quality and to develop low GI foods. Considering the close relationship between food processing and the quality of whole-grain foods, we aim to initiate a Special Issue focusing on the recent development of low-GI food as well as whole-grain food. The primary topics are as follows:

• Glycemic properties of starch from different sources and their molecular mechanism;
• Interaction between polyphenols and starch for improved glycemic response;
• Impact of the physiochemical properties of cereal polyphenols on their inhibitory function in terms of carbohydrate digestion enzymes;
• Influence of the physical form of cereal-based foods in terms of their glycemic properties;
• The changes in the nutritional properties of intrinsic starch in food processing;
• The glycemic property of fermented cereal foods and the mechanism;
• The function of cereal-sourced dietary fiber on the glycemic property of starch;
• Relationship between the fermentation (dietary fiber and polyphenol) and carbohydrate quality;
• The molecular mechanism of low GI vs whole-grain foods in their physiological function in the prevention or intervention of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes or irritable bowel syndrome.

Prof. Dr. Genyi Zhang
Guest Editor

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• starch
• polyphenols
• inhibitory function
• dietary fiber
• cereal intrinsic dietary fiber
• food form
• processing
• postprandial glycemic response
• fermentation
• molecular mechanisms