Investigating the Glycaemic and Satiating Capacity of PulseOn® Enriched Foods

Investigating the Glycaemic and Satiating Capacity of PulseOn® Enriched Foods: a Randomised Control Trial

The purpose of this randomised control trial is to determine whether consuming PulseOn enriched crackers for breakfast influences post-prandial glycaemic response and markers of appetite (hunger, fullness, desire to eat) over 4 hours, and energy intake at an ad libitum lunch meal on the same day. Healthy individuals with no underlying metabolic disease will be recruited to take part in this study.

PulseON® is a unique flour that is made 100% from pulses, but unlike other flours it has been obtained through an alternative milling process (WO2019155190) which preserves whole plant cells (Edwards et al., 2020). These cells were shown to remain intact during down-stream processing into food products including bread and biscuits, and influence glycaemic response to these foods (Delamare et al., 2020; Bajka et al., 2021). Interestingly, the PulseON®-enriched breads also significantly enhanced and prolonged release of the gut hormones glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP1) and peptide YY (PYY), which are known to have anorexigenic effects (Bajka et al., 2023). Studies using chick pea purees and hummus products have also shown positive findings in relation to appetite sensations and food intake (Pälchen et al., 2022; Alshaalan et al., 2024).

This work aims to recruit 50 participants through the use of posters and emails at Sheffield Hallam University, as well as in the local Sheffield area and through social media.

-30 minutes - baseline measures (body mass index (kg/m2), waist circumference (cm), blood glucose (mmol/l), hunger, fullness, desire to eat) are taken

0 minutes - pre-load consumed within 15 minutes (75g wheat flour / PulseOn crackers) The wheat flour cracker is made from 100% wheat flour. The PulseOn cracker is made from 40% PulseOn flour and 60% wheat flour.

30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120, 150, 180, 210 minutes - repeat baseline measures

240 minutes - ad libitum lunch provided (pasta and tomato sauce) and participants instructed to eat to fullness.

Paired sample t-tests will be used to compare measures between the two visits.

Inclusion Criteria:

• over the age of 18y

Exclusion Criteria:

• smoker / recreational drug user
• restrained eater (as determined by the three factor eating questionnaire (TFEQ-R18))
• vegan
• pregnant / lactating
• blood clotting disorder
• taking medication for heart / metabolic disease
• pacemaker fitted
• energy restricted diet or lost >5% body weight in the last 3 months
• elite athletes
• dysphagia
• food allergy / intolerance
• disease / inflammation of the GI tract