Guwahati: Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG), have developed a reliable and affordable Glycemic Index (GI) sensor, suitable for point-of-care detection that can determine the GI of different food sources in real-time which is crucial for diabetes management.
The GI is a measure of how quickly a food can make one’s blood sugar level rise when consumed. High GI foods can cause a rapid spike in blood glucose levels also followed by a swift decline. Moreover, high GI foods stimulate an increased demand for insulin, contributing to the risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Importantly, low GI food helps in preventing diabetes, heart disease, obesity and cancer.
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As the trend of fast food increases among the world’s working population, the need for a portable device that can immediately detect and guide the user about the GI of the food arises. The Point-Of-Care-Testing (POCT) prototype developed by the IIT Guwahati team can detect the GI of common food sources in approximately five minutes.
Prof. Dipankar Bandyopadhyay who led the researchers’ team, said, “We have developed a composite nanoenzyme by combining gold nanoparticles with alpha-amylase to break down long-chain starch molecules into simpler sugars. We found that this nanoenzyme of approximately 30-nanometer size has remarkable heterogeneous catalytic properties to rapidly degrade starch into maltose at room temperature.”
The amount of maltose produced is then electrochemically detected to classify the food sources into Rapidly Digestible Starch (RDS) and Slowly Digestible Starch (SDS) along with Resistant Starch (RS).
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Explaining the real-time monitoring of fast food, Prof. Bandyopadhyay said, “When we tested the device on fast foods like crackers, biscuits, chips and bread, we found that crackers have the most RDS, followed by potato chips and then brown bread. Notably, the SDS and RS of brown bread release maltose slowly, causing a gradual increase in glucose levels and a lower response from insulin in the body.”
The team of researchers has also filed a patent real-time GI sensor comprising enzymatic biosynthesized gold nanocomposite. The research has been funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).