Toward a more standardised and accurate evaluation of glycemic response to foods: recommendations for portion size calculation

This study aimed at evaluating the adequacy of calculation methods for portions to be provided to subjects in clinical trials evaluating glycemic response to foods. Portion sizes were calculated for 140 food samples, based on Nutrition Facts labels (current practice) and actual available carbohydrate content (current recommendation), and compared against the amount of monosaccharides yielded by the digestive breakdown of their actual available carbohydrate content (basis for glycemic response to food). The current practice can result in significant under- or over-feeding of carbohydrates in 10% of tested cases, as compared to the targeted reference dosage. The method currently recommended can result in significantly inadequate yields of monosaccharides in 24% of tested cases. The current and recommended calculation methods do not seem adequate for a standardised evaluation of glycemic response to foods. It is thus recommended to account for the amount of absorbable monosaccharides of foods for portion size calculation.