Comparison study between the effect of oat and barley breads on serum glucose and lipid profiles in dyslipidemic and type 2 diabetic subjects: a short-term trial

Abstract

This study compares the effects of oat and barley bread on lipid profiles and blood glucose of type 2 diabetic patients. In a cross-over short-term trial, 36 type 2 diabetic patients having one lipid parameters out of the normal limit were randomly assigned into two bread groups. They were given 250 g oat or barley bread daily for 3 weeks. A total of 5 cc of venous blood was drawn before, after 10 days and at the end of the trial for respective assays. After a washout period of 3 weeks, patients were moved into the other bread group and all steps of the previous phase were accomplished similarly. A 3-day food recall questionnaire was completed on the 1st, 10th and 21st days of both phases of the trial. Findings indicated that all of the metabolic and anthropometric indicators were improved in both groups except waist to hip ratio. The mean differences in fasting serum glucose (FSG) in the barley group and the oat bread groups were 32 ± 2.7 and 6.2 ± 9.2 mg/dl; the mean differences for serum high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-c) in the barley group and the oat bread groups were 9.2 ± 1.8 and 1.34 ± 0.2 mg/dl, respectively. The trend in the differences in the FSG and the HDL-c were significant between the two groups (P = 0.001). This study showed that both oat and barley bread are effective for improvement of anthropometric and metabolic indicators, and that the beneficial effects of oat bread in reducing blood glucose and HDL was higher than for barley bread.