The effect of high-pressure processing on reducing the glycaemic index of atemoya puree

This study investigated the effects of high-pressure processing (HPP) on the glycaemic index (GI) of atemoya puree (AP) in rats. Sprague-Dawley rats were fed with unprocessed and high-pressure processed atemoya puree (HPP-AP), and the GIs for the unprocessed AP and HPP-AP were calculated from changes in blood glucose concentrations within 2 h after meals. The physicochemical properties of AP were analysed to understand the mechanism affecting its GI.

The results showed that HPP (600 MPa for 15 min) could delay increase in postprandial blood glucose levels, decrease the peak value of postprandial blood glucose by 76.1%, and significantly decrease the GI of AP to 49.8 in the experimental group compared to 65.4 in the control group. HPP did not exert a significant effect on the glucose and pectin contents of AP, but it increased the viscosity of the puree and its dietary fibre content and delayed the time of peak glucose response. In the analysis of enzymes of the puree, we found that HPP significantly decreased the activities of sucrose invertase, pectin methylesterase and polygalacturonase, thereby decreasing the rate of glucose generation in the puree and stabilizing the pectin structure, which decreased the absorption of glucose by the small intestine, thus decreasing the GI value.

Our findings suggest that HPP technology could effectively delay increase in postprandial blood glucose levels and decrease the GI value of AP, thus having a potential application in developing atemoya puree products with low GI. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.