Influence of processing and cooking of carrots in mixed meals on satiety, glucose and hormonal response

The influence of processing and cooking on the metabolic response to carrots in mixed meals was explored in two consecutive harvest years. The contribution of dietary fibre (4.4 g 1989 and 6.6 g 1990) from carrots was chosen to be different in order to compare effects with varying doses. The meals, composed of carrots, creamed potatoes, meat balls, lingonberry jam, white bread and light beer, were served in the morning after an overnight fast to 10 healthy male volunteers. Carrots were investigated raw, processed (blanched and frozen) and variously cooked (thawed, boiled and microwaved). The amount of dietary fibre from the vegetable, and the content of energy, digestible carbohydrates, fat and protein were similar in the meals compared. Significantly lower glucose, insulin and C-peptide responses and higher satiety scores were elicited with raw carrots than with microwaved ones, harvest year 1989. The next year, with a higher dietary fibre intake from carrots, there were significant effects of processing only on the glucose response. Plasma beta-carotene levels tended to be higher postprandially with raw carrots than with microwaved ones. Hence, ordinary processing and cooking of vegetables can affect the metabolic response to a mixed meal. However, the influence seems to be varying and of minor importance in ordinary meals. Increasing vegetable portions entailing a higher soluble fibre content and a higher viscosity could further reduce the influence of processing.