Yacon syrup: Food applications and impact on satiety in healthy volunteers.

Syrup obtained from yacon roots could be well positioned as a nutritional product due to its high fructooligosaccharides (FOS) content. Considering this, we examined the potential food applications of yacon syrup, using the focal group methodology, and its sensorial acceptability when incorporated in yogurt. The beneficial effects of the consumption of yacon syrup were studied over a 2-week period in a double-blind placebo-controlled experiment (namely Test A) and other consistent of only one day of yacon syrup consumption (namely Test B) were also evaluated. The doses of yacon syrup for both experiments were 8.74g of FOS/day. Energy intake, hunger, satiety, fullness and prospective food consumption were assessed with analogue scales at the end of each test. The results indicate that the yogurt was the food most suggested by the focus group, and the average of the scores given to the attributes when the yacon syrup was incorporated into a yogurt were: 7.78 for appearance; 7.72 for aroma; 7.02 for flavor and 6.96 for overall acceptability, corresponding to "like very much" and "like moderately". Furthermore, the results indicate that yacon syrup has a positive effect on appetite and its effect was dependent on gender and period of intervention, being statistically significant (P<0.05) in women, after 2-week period. These findings suggested that increasing FOS intake could help to increase satiety, and consequently, be helpful in the management of type 2-diabetes or control of the current high prevalence of overweight or obesity.

Producto de acumulación lipídica está asociado con glucemia en estudiantes universitarias / Lipid accumulation product is associated with blood glucose in female university students

The use of anthropometric indexes, to follow up cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors, has been the focus of several studies during the last years. The Lipid Accumulation Product (LAP) innovates in combining waist circumference (WC), an anthropometric parameter, with fasting triglycerides, a biochemical parameter: the. The LAP was proposed in 2005 by Kahn as a better index than the Body Mass Index (BMI) to predict cardiovascular risk. The few studies published do not present LAP in young female population. For this reason, our study analyzed the association between LAP and fasting glycemia in female university students. A significant positive correlation was found, confirming previous studies with different populations.

La utilización de índices antropométricos para rastrear factores de riesgo cardiovascular y metabólico, ha sido de interés en varios estudios durante los últimos años. El Producto de Acumulación Lipídica (PAL) innova al combinar la circunferencia de cintura (CC), el cual es un parámetro antropométrico, con un parámetro bioquímico: los triglicéridos en ayunas. Kahn propuso el PAL el año 2005 como un índice mejor que el Indice de Masa Corporal (IMC) para predecir riesgo cardiovascular. Algunos estudios publicados no muestran el PAL en una población de mujeres jóvenes. Por esta razón, el objetivo del presente estudio fue analizar la asociación entre PAL y la glucemia en ayunas en estudiantes universitarias. Se detectó una correlación significativamente positiva, confirmando estudios previos en diferentes poblaciones.