Effects of breakfast cereals containing various amounts of beta-glucan fibers on plasma glucose and insulin responses in NIDDM subjects

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether increasing doses (amounts) of beta-glucan present in an extruded breakfast cereal affect the glycemic and insulinemic responses in eight NIDDM subjects, compared with the same responses after a continental breakfast (bread, milk, cheese, ham). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Breakfast cereals were produced using various proportions of oat bran enriched in fiber, which contain an unusually high amount of a viscous polysaccharide, called beta-glucan, and oat bran. The carbohydrate load was 35 g. RESULTS: The maximum increases observed in plasma glucose after the breakfast cereal were 67% (P < 0.05), 42% (P < 0.001), and 38% (P < 0.001) with 4.0, 6.0, and 8.4 g beta-glucan, respectively, compared with the continental breakfast. There was a linear inverse relationship between dose of beta-glucan and plasma glucose peak or area under the glucose curve (R2 = 0.94, P < 0.05). Postprandial insulin increase was only 59-67% (P < 0.01) as high as the continental breakfast after all three levels of beta-glucan. CONCLUSIONS: The 50% decrease in glycemic response that was observed after the ingestion of 35 g carbohydrate is estimated to occur with approximately 5 g beta-glucan. This dose of beta-glucan can easily be attained without the loss of taste by incorporating oat bran concentrate in products

An innovative micro optical element assembly robot characterized by high accuracy and flexibility

This paper describes a novel robotic assembly station, named Sixtiff, which has been conceived and realized at the Swiss Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland. This station was developed in order td actively assemble micro-optical devices with high accuracy along six degrees of freedom. This novel robotic system is a hybrid serial-parallel structure with six degrees of-freedom. The system is very stiff and since it is not affected by any floating, it is able to guarantee high movement accuracy (linear resolution of 0.25 mu m, and angular resolution of 1.7 mu rad). The robot was used to collimate a laser beam with a Doric lens (cylindrical lens with a diameter of 60 mu m and a focal of 45 mu m). The distance between the emitting area of the diode and the lens is about 10 mu m and the alignment was adjusted with an accuracy of 0.5 mu m

Metabolic effect of pre-cooked instant preparations of bean and potato in normal and in diabetic subjects

The effect of a 50 g starch meal prepared with pre-cooked instant bean flakes on glucose and insulin plasma levels and on glucose oxidation rate as measured by continuous indirect calorimetry was assessed in six healthy human volunteers during 4 h following the meal. Comparison was done with the same load of starch as potato flakes to which the fiber and protein content of the bean meal had been added. Thirty minutes after ingestion, plasma glucose and insulin rise was less after beans than after potatoes (0.4 +/- 0.2 vs 2.0 +/- 0.3 mmol . l-1), p less than 0.01, and 8 +/- 2 vs 38 +/- 5 microU . ml-1, p less than 0.001). The elevation of glucose oxidation was markedly less during the 2 h following the ingestion of beans when compared to potatoes. The bean flakes meal gave rise to only moderate elevation of plasma glucose and insulin levels and of glucose oxidation rate when given to four noninsulin-dependent-diabetes mellitus patients. It is suggested that the slow carbohydrate property of legumes is not due to their fiber content, but might be related to the histological structure of the seed

An innovative micro optical element assembly robot

Concerns the fabrication of miniaturized optical devices with height attachment precision. For active alignment of micro-optical elements machined with tolerances lower than the intended precision, an accurate 6-DOF robot is needed. This article describes such a structure, which is named Sixtiff. Sixtiff was first developed for the use of a new optical assembly technology, TRIMO-SMD. The robot is a hybrid serial-parallel structure composed of five linear stages and one angular stage. It has a stiff structure, without floatin