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Food and health

Effect of sodium alginate addition to chocolate milk on glycemia, insulin, appetite and food intake in healthy adult men

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 68, pages 613–618 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Sodium alginate reduces appetite and glycemia, when consumed in water- and sugar-based drinks. But, its effects when added to other commonly consumed beverages have not been reported. Because chocolate milk (CM) is criticized for raising blood glucose more than unflavored milk, the aim of our study was to investigate the effect of adding a strong-gelling sodium alginate to CM on glycemia, insulinemia, appetite and food intake.

Subjects/Methods:

In a randomized crossover design, 24 men (22.9±0.4 years; 22.5±0.3 kg/m2) were provided with isovolumetric (325 ml) treatments of CM, 1.25% alginate CM, 2.5% alginate CM or 2.5% alginate solution. Sodium alginate had a ratio of 0.78:1 of mannuronic acid (M) to guluronic acid (G) residues, and was block distributed. Treatments were standardized for lactose, sucrose and calcium content, and provided 120 min before an ad libitum pizza meal during which food intake was measured. Appetite and blood glucose and insulin were measured at baseline and at intervals pre- and post-meal.

Results:

Addition of 2.5% alginate to CM reduced peak glucose concentrations, at 30 min, by an average of 6% and 13% compared with 1.25% alginate CM (95% confidence intervals (CIs): 0.02–1.08; P=0.037) and CM alone (95% CIs: 0.49–1.55; P=0.000) respectively. Insulin peaks at 30 min were lower by 46% after 2.5% alginate CM relative to CM (95% CIs: 3.49–31.78; P=0.009). Pre-meal appetite was attenuated dose dependently by alginate addition to CM; CM with 2.5% alginate reduced mean appetite by an average of 134% compared with CM alone (95% CIs: 8.87–18.98; P=0.000). However, total caloric intake at the pizza meal did not differ among treatments.

Conclusions:

The addition of a strong-gelling sodium alginate to CM decreases pre-meal glycemia, insulinemia and appetite, but not caloric intake at a meal 2 h later, in healthy adult men.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ms N Yavorska for her assistance in the conduction of few sessions as part of her undergraduate research project at the University of Toronto, and X Xing for alginate compositional analyses and K Logan for viscosity analyses at the University of Guelph. This study was supported by a peer reviewed grant from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada-Collaborative Research and Development (CRDJP 385597–09), in partnership with the unrestricted support of Dairy Farmers of Ontario and Kraft Canada Inc. McCain Foods Ltd (Toronto, Canada) provided the pizza for the experimental test meals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    D El Khoury, S Berengut, R Kubant & G H Anderson

  2. Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

    H D Goff

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  1. D El Khoury
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Correspondence to G H Anderson.

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Contributors: DEK contributed to conception and design of the study, carried out the study, performed data analysis and interpretation, and drafted the manuscript; HDG contributed to conception and design of the study, analyzed the physicochemical properties of sodium alginate and treatments, and reviewed the manuscript; SB carried out the study, and assisted in data analysis; RK assisted in data analysis, and contributed to manuscript revision; GHA contributed to conception and design of the study, data interpretation and manuscript review; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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El Khoury, D., Goff, H., Berengut, S. et al. Effect of sodium alginate addition to chocolate milk on glycemia, insulin, appetite and food intake in healthy adult men. Eur J Clin Nutr 68, 613–618 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.53

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