The effect of glycaemic index on cognitive function
Item
- Title
- The effect of glycaemic index on cognitive function
- Author(s)
- Sinclair Chantel
- Abstract
-
It has been suggested that foods of low glycaemic index (GI) are beneficial to health, and that the general population should eat more of these types of food as they have been shown to reduce major causes of morbidity and mortality, such as diabetes and coronary heart disease. Furthermore, numerous studies have identified that glucose administration can enhance cognitive performance and that this effect depends on the type of carbohydrate eaten. The mechanism by which an increased supply of glucose enhances memory is poorly understood. The aims of this study were to determine whether a low GI or high GI diet improves cognitive function; and to establish if blood glucose level is associated with an improvement in cognition in a fasted state versus a post prandial state.
METHODS: The study was a matched pair, involving 10 subjects divided into 2 groups, aged between 23-34. Two subjects participated in both groups. Group 1 consisted of 6 subjects who had a normal diet when tested in both conditions. Group 2, also consisting of 6 subjects, followed a high GI diet in condition 1 and a low GI diet in condition 2 over a duration of 1 week for each food group. Blood glucose measurements and cognitive assessment tests were carried out at intervals 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes. Three cognitive ability tests were used consisting of word recall, Stroop and spatial memory tests.
RESULTS: For both groups a two tailed t-test showed there was no significant difference between:
High GI and low GI on cognitive function (p>0.05)
Fasted and post prandial blood glucose on cognitive function (p>0.05).
CONCLUSION: This study does not support the view that there is a significant association between high glycaemic index food and decreased cognitive ability when compared to low glycaemic index food. Nor does this study support the view that a fasted state blood glucose level compared to post prandial blood glucose level is associated with improved cognitive ability. Therefore the null hypothesis is accepted. However the subject population used in this study would not be deemed as a representative one and further research with a bigger population would be beneficial in order to establish definitive findings.
The outcome of this study produced similar results to those found in earlier studies carried out by Benton et al (1998) and Scholey et al (2001) in that the blood glucose measurements did establish that a low GI diet results in a slower decrease in blood glucose levels after the consumption of food.
Understanding the nutritional effects of glycaemic index on both blood glucose levels and cognitive ability is a key element of understanding the overall impacts of diet on health as part of supporting the osteopathic and naturopathic principle that a balanced diet is a vital constituent of achieving and maintaining optimum health. - presented at
- British College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Date Accepted
- 0
- Date Submitted
- 1.1.1970 00:00:00
- Type
- osteo_thesis
- Language
- English
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 13653
- Inst-Identifier
- 1076
- Recommended
- 0
- Item sets
- Thesis
Sinclair Chantel, “The effect of glycaemic index on cognitive function”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed May 4, 2025, https://www.osteopathic-research.org/s/orw/item/1104