Guwahati: A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT-G) recently successfully designed an affordable and user-friendly Glycemic Index (GI) sensor. This device provides real-time analysis of the GI in various food items, a crucial aspect of diabetes management.
Dipankar Bandyopadhyay, leading the effort from the Department of Chemical Engineering, engineered a point-of-care-testing (POCT) prototype that is capable of determining the Glycemic Index of common foods in just about 5 minutes. Given the increasing global consumption of fast food, the necessity for a portable tool to swiftly assess the GI of diverse foodstuffs is more apparent than ever.
Professor Bandyopadhyay explained the detection process, stating, “We developed a composite nano enzyme by combining gold nanoparticles with alpha-amylase to break down long-chain starch molecules into simpler sugars. We found that this nanoenzyme, with a size of approximately 30 nanometers, possesses remarkable heterogeneous catalytic properties, facilitating the rapid degradation of starch into maltose at room temperature.”
It is then followed by the electrochemical measurement of the amount of maltose generated to categorise food items into Rapidly Digestible Starch (RDS), Slowly Digestible Starch (SDS), and Resistant Starch (RS).
Expanding on the real-time monitoring of fast food, Bandyopadhyay added, “When we tested the device on fast foods such as crackers, biscuits, chips, and bread, we found that crackers had the highest RDS content, followed by potato chips and brown bread. Notably, brown bread’s SDS/RS content results in a gradual increase in glucose levels and a reduced response from insulin within the body.”
The Glycemic Index (GI) is a metric employed to categorise carbohydrate-containing foods based on their impact on blood sugar levels upon consumption. High-GI foods can cause rapid spikes in blood glucose levels, followed by abrupt declines, leading to an increased demand for insulin and a heightened risk of type-2 diabetes. Conversely, low-GI foods are instrumental in preventing conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and even cancer.
The findings of the research have been published in the “Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering” journal by the American Chemical Society, with co-authors Prathu Raja Parmar, Jiwajyoti Mahanta, Saurabh Dubey, Tapas Kumar Mandal, and Dipankar Bandyopadhyay. This research project received funding from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
