A Comparative study about Glycemic Index and Diabetes

Diabetes care is a fundamental health issue all over the world and plays a crucial role as a dietary approach in managing blood glucose concentrations. Glycemic index (GI) measures the impact of carbohydrate-rich diets on blood glucose, but there are inadequate methods available for GI evaluation. The objective of this study was understand the glycemic index of foods like unripe banana and ripe banana by employing the phenol-sulphuric acid test to estimate the carbohydrate content in the sample. The unripe banana extract was obtained by the process of crushing, subsequent extraction using saline solution, and enzymatic hydrolysis of the sample by amylase. The total carbohydrate levels in the extract were determined by employing the phenol-sulphuric acid test by measuring the absorbance of the sample at 490nm using a colorimeter. Analysis of the results showed that the concentration of digestible sugars in unripe bananas was low compared to that in ripe bananas. This indicated that the glycemic index in unripe bananas was low. The phenol-sulphuric acid method was found to be a reliable technique in the quantitative analysis of carbohydrates in food materials. The results observed in this study justify the consumption of low GI foods by diabetics.