Objectives: To determine glycemic, insulinemic, and satiety indices of 3 types of kefir.
Methods: This study was divided into 3 phases. In phase 1, 50 g of available carbohydrate from low-fat strawberry kefir or orange kefir was tested, and in phase 2, low-fat plain kefir containing 25 g of available carbohydrates was tested for glycemic index (GI), in both cases compared with an equivalent amount of glucose. In phase 3, 1000-kJ portions of all 3 types of kefirs were compared with white bread with the same energy content to determine the insulinemic index (II) and satiety index (SI) of all 3 kefirs. In all phases, a single-meal, randomized crossover design was performed in which the test meals were given to healthy adults, 5 men and 5 women.
Results: The total incremental plasma glucose area under the curve (iAUC) for strawberry, orange, and plain kefirs was significantly lower compared with the respective high-GI control food, which was glucose solution. However, the IIs and SIs of kefir did not differ significantly from the white bread.
Conclusion: Kefir is a low- to moderate-GI food; however, its II was high. Although kefir had higher water content, the SI of kefir was not significantly different from white bread.