Introduction: Crackers, one of the most consumed baked products, primarily contain refined wheat flour and have a moderate glycaemic index (GI). Nut and legume powders are used in baked goods to help regulate postprandial glycaemia; however, their glycaemic responses remain controversial. Our study aimed to compare the postprandial glycaemic responses between crackers with 30% wheat flour substitution by white kidney beans, cashew nuts, and almonds versus standard wheat crackers. Methods: Twelve adults were recruited for a five-session randomised controlled crossover study. In each session, they were randomly assigned to receive 50g carbohydrates from either a glucose solution or one of the four crackers. Plasma glucose levels were measured at baseline and 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after consumption. Satiety and hunger were evaluated using 100mm visual analogue scales at baseline and every 30 minutes until 120 minutes. Results: Mean incremental area under the curve (IAUC) for plasma glucose did not differ between the alternatives and wheat crackers, but was lowest for almond crackers. Compared with GI value of glucose solution, that of wheat, cashew nut, white kidney bean, and almond crackers were 39.97±23.13, 37.66±24.66, 35.85±10.86, and 28.09±17.92, respectively. Almond cracker consumption resulted in the highest mean IAUC for satiety and lowest for hunger, though non-significant. Conclusion: Crackers with 30% wheat flour substitution by nut and legume powders tended to improve postprandial glycaemia more than the standard crackers; however, acute responses on insulin and glucagon-like peptide-1 require further examination.

Introduction: Mung beans [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] are good sources of protein. Nevertheless, its protein quality is still questionable. This study aimed to determine the effect of different processes prior to boiling, on the in vitro protein and amino acid digestibility of mung beans by using a 6-hour enzymatic digestion. Methods: This study was based on the household method of the processes before boiling including unsoaking, soaking, and dehulling. Products from all treatment methods were analysed for proximate composition (moisture, crude protein, crude fat, ash, and dietary fibre) on a dry basis, naturally occurring anti-nutritional factors, amino acid composition, and digestibility of protein and amino acids. The amino acid composition and amino acid digestibility were used to calculate the dietary protein quality. Results: The treatments prior to the boiling of mung beans such as dehulling, soaking and without soaking, improved protein digestibility significantly by 10.8%, 10.3%, and 12.0%, respectively, when compared with that of raw mung beans (37.9%). Of the different mung bean pre-treatments, soaking seems to have the highest value of average indispensable amino acid (IAA) digestibility (55.4%), in particularly branched-chain amino acids (66.4%). However, there was no difference in the protein quality in terms of digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS) across different treatment groups. Conclusion: The different processes performed on mung bean before boiling had only a slight impact on its amino acid digestibility and they rarely affected DIAAS values.