Local curacaoan beans and their value for diabetic control: back to the past, a step forward? - abstract

ABSTRACT

In former days, Curacaoan beans were commonly used. Nowadays, these beans are mainly replaced by food rich in simple carbohydrates and fat. We therefore investigated whether a diet rich in beans might facilitate the metabolic control of gestational diabetes mellitus. We compared the effect of consuming 5 locally grown beans (Bonchi Cora, Bonchi Pela Berde, Wandu, Bonchi Wowo Pretu and Bonchi di Kunuku) on the blood glucose response in non-pregnant, healthy pregnant and diabetic pregnant women. The area under the incremental blood glucose 3-hr curve, after consuming 25 gm of each type of bean, was expressed as a percentage of the blood glucose area obtained after a 25 gm bread-and-cheese breakfast. The mean of these values for each food was designed as the "glycaemic index, G.I." for that food. All beans showed a lower glycaemic index than the test bread meal. We found lower glycaemic indexes in both the healthy pregnant and diabetic pregnant women than in non-pregnant women. It is possible that gestational diabetics (and other diabetics) will be more easily controlled with "old fashioned" tasty bean-meals prepared with locally grown products than with refined foods (AU)