Scientists at Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association (CCFRA) have developed techniques that could predict a product's glycaemic index (GI) in the early stages of formulation without expensive human testing.
Currently, manufacturers trying to work out the GI have to invest in costly in vivo tests, feeding volunteers and comparing their blood glucose levels over time with those produced by glucose or bread eaten by the same subjects.
Dr Anton Alldrick of CCFRA said that the in vitro method could only give an approximate GI value, but developers could use it to refine products before going to human tests. It simulates what happens when we chew and digest foods, giving them a ranking based on their rate of starch digestibility, said Alldrick.
"This is an indicative tool to select recipes with the greatest potential of reaching the desired GI. It should be seen as a supplement to existing GI testing, rather than its successor."
Jeya Henry, professor of human nutrition at Oxford Brookes University, said a large number of products were still submitted for in vivo testing. Although it was unclear where GI would sit under the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, he predicted firms would find ways around labelling.