Glycemic Index of Traditional Egg Pasta

The five types of pasta to be tested are produced by the so called "La Campofilone" Company (Ficiarà, Campofilone, Marche), a national excellence in the production of traditional egg. Every pasta is designed and realized with the scientific support of two consultants: Prof. Paolo De Cristofaro, endocrinologist, diabetologist and professor at the School of Specialization in Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Chieti, and Prof. Giampiero Sacchetti, biotechnologist at the Marche Polytechnic University. Specifically, the products to be tested are:

1. Traditional Fettuccine, original recipe (8 eggs/kg flour) currently available on the market;

2. Pasta with only 8 egg whites/kg flour;

3. Pasta with 4 eggs/kg flour;

4. Hyperproteic pasta (with added gluten and albumin);

5. Pasta with only 4 egg whites/kg flour.

Each phase of the project will be implemented in accordance with the Jenkins and Wolever protocol (World Health Organization-Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,1998). 12 healthy subjects, aged 18-65 years, will be recruited. After a 10 to 12-hour overnight fasting period, standard food (a glucose solution) and food test (the different types of fettuccine La Campofilone) will be administered to volunteers, organized into groups of two or three people.

Both test food administrations and standard food administrations will take place on a different day. The standard food consists of 50 g of glucose dissolved in oligomineral water, the test food consists of a portion of pasta containing 50 g of available carbohydrates. Blood samples for determination of glycemia and insulinemia will be taken at time 0 and then at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 minutes from the beginning of the test or standard food intake. Three glucose response curves will be performed on each subject (this allows to obtain an average value of the subject's response to glucose over time) while a single test with the food to be tested will be done. Blood samples will be analyzed at the Service of Medical Laboratory Analysis of the Hospital "S. De Bellis". Glucose and insulin values will be used to calculate the glycemic and insulin index of each product. For each type of tested pasta, a detailed report will be drawn up, complete with graphs of glycemic response for each subject. Each report will include the glycemic and insulin index of the product under review.