People with type 2 diabetes might be able to reduce their dependence on glucose-regulating drugs due to a new discovery by ALES researchers Cathy Chan and Jocelyn Ozga.
Their recent research shows that by cooking certain types of pea-seed coats or by breaking others down through a method of hydrolysis, they can enhance the fibrous material's ability to lower blood-sugar levels.
This prepares the way to developing appealing food products for diabetics that can help them control their levels of blood sugar. In the future, such foods may reduce their dependence on prescription drugs.
A pea-seed coat is the very thin, fibrous outer layer of a pea that is discarded when the fleshy embryo inside is harvested for such uses as split peas or pea-butter.
Earlier studies by Chan and Ozga have determined that raw pea-seed coats reduce blood sugar in rats by about 15 per cent. However, raw pea-seed coats are not very digestible by humans.
But if the coats of some pea-seeds are cooked, research conducted by Chan, a nutritionist, and Ozga, a plant physiologist, shows a reduction of 20 to 25 per cent in blood sugar. If other pea-seed coats' large flavonoid molecules are broken down through acid-hydrolysis, then the reduction is slightly higher, 25 to 30 percent.
The findings are significant for people with type 2 diabetes, who are usually treated with a prescription drug called metformin, which allows the body to use insulin more effectively, along with diet and exercise. Identifying foods or ingredients that also lower blood-sugar levels could reduce the need for the drug.
Although it's long been known that pulses (peas, beans, chickpeas and lentils) and their fibrous properties are beneficial for good health, the average Canadian eats only half a serving of pulses a week, said Chan.
"If you're not of South Asian descent, then you're not (likely) eating chickpeas and lentils on a regular basis," she said. "So the idea is, if you can make an ingredient, like a flour-type product, that can be incorporated into foods people do eat, you can influence their health in a stealthy way."
The next step is to conduct a human trial with products that contain pea-seed coats, said Chan, to see how acceptable they are to people.
Meanwhile, another promising offshoot of their research is that deeply pigmented peas (brown ones with large flavonoid molecules) contain an antioxidant called proanthocyanidin (or PAC). If PAC is not hydrolyzed, it's broken down by the gut microbiome, albeit more slowly.
That's interested ALES colleagues Michael Ganzle, a food microbiologist, and Ben Willing, an animal microbiologist. Together with Chan and Ozga, they are now studying a mouse model that's been challenged by bacteria such as salmonella.
"The intent is to see whether mice that eat the pea coats have protection from salmonella and whether this is noticed more in the native (raw) form or the hydrolyzed form," said Chan.
Their recent research shows that by cooking certain types of pea-seed coats or by breaking others down through a method of hydrolysis, they can enhance the fibrous material's ability to lower blood-sugar levels.
This prepares the way to developing appealing food products for diabetics that can help them control their levels of blood sugar. In the future, such foods may reduce their dependence on prescription drugs.
A pea-seed coat is the very thin, fibrous outer layer of a pea that is discarded when the fleshy embryo inside is harvested for such uses as split peas or pea-butter.
Earlier studies by Chan and Ozga have determined that raw pea-seed coats reduce blood sugar in rats by about 15 per cent. However, raw pea-seed coats are not very digestible by humans.
But if the coats of some pea-seeds are cooked, research conducted by Chan, a nutritionist, and Ozga, a plant physiologist, shows a reduction of 20 to 25 per cent in blood sugar. If other pea-seed coats' large flavonoid molecules are broken down through acid-hydrolysis, then the reduction is slightly higher, 25 to 30 percent.
The findings are significant for people with type 2 diabetes, who are usually treated with a prescription drug called metformin, which allows the body to use insulin more effectively, along with diet and exercise. Identifying foods or ingredients that also lower blood-sugar levels could reduce the need for the drug.
Although it's long been known that pulses (peas, beans, chickpeas and lentils) and their fibrous properties are beneficial for good health, the average Canadian eats only half a serving of pulses a week, said Chan.
"If you're not of South Asian descent, then you're not (likely) eating chickpeas and lentils on a regular basis," she said. "So the idea is, if you can make an ingredient, like a flour-type product, that can be incorporated into foods people do eat, you can influence their health in a stealthy way."
The next step is to conduct a human trial with products that contain pea-seed coats, said Chan, to see how acceptable they are to people.
Meanwhile, another promising offshoot of their research is that deeply pigmented peas (brown ones with large flavonoid molecules) contain an antioxidant called proanthocyanidin (or PAC). If PAC is not hydrolyzed, it's broken down by the gut microbiome, albeit more slowly.
That's interested ALES colleagues Michael Ganzle, a food microbiologist, and Ben Willing, an animal microbiologist. Together with Chan and Ozga, they are now studying a mouse model that's been challenged by bacteria such as salmonella.
"The intent is to see whether mice that eat the pea coats have protection from salmonella and whether this is noticed more in the native (raw) form or the hydrolyzed form," said Chan.