Abstract
Objectives
We investigated the postprandial effects of alcohol-free beers in which carbohydrate composition have been modified, compared to regular alcohol-free beer.
Methods
Two cross-over studies were conducted. Firstly, 10 healthy volunteers received 25 g of carbohydrates coming from: regular alcohol-free beer (RB), alcohol-free beer with almost completely eliminated maltose and enriched with isomaltulose (2.5 g/100 mL) and a resistant maltodextrin (0.8 g/100 mL) (IMB), alcohol-free beer with the same maltose removal enriched with resistant maltodextrin (2.0 g/100 mL) (MB) and glucose solution. In the second study, 20 healthy volunteers were provided with 50 g of carbohydrates from white bread and water and the same meal plus 14.3 g of carbohydrates coming from: RB, IMB, MB and extra white bread. Blood was sampled after ingestion every 15 min for 2 h. Glucose, insulin, GIP and GLP-1 were determined in all samples.
Results
Clinical and anthropometric characteristics remained constant in all subjects throughout the studies. Importantly, in the first study, the increase of glucose, insulin and GIP after the consumption of IMB and MB was significantly lower than after RB (P = 0.005, P = 0.012 and P < 0.001, respectively). In the second study, the consumption of white bread with IMB and MB showed significantly less increase in glucose levels than just consuming white bread and white bread with RB (P = 0.002).
Conclusions
The consumption of an alcohol-free beer with modified carbohydrates composition led to a better postprandial response compared to RB and it could attenuate hyperglycemia after ingestion with white bread.
Funding Sources
This work was supported by grants from Gobierno de Aragón, B14–7R, Spain, and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness PI15/01,983, PI18/01,777 and CIBERCV. These projects are co-financed by Instituto de Salud Carlos III and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union “A way to make Europe”. CIBERCV is a project of Instituto de Salud Carlos III.