What effects do glycaemic responses have on cognition, mood, satiety?

Glycaemic response appears to have no impact on cognitive performance, mood, or satiety, as indicated by evidence in a randomized double-blind crossover trial.

The investigators compared the effects of different glycaemic responses, induced by beverages with different glycaemic index (GI; sucrose and isomaltulose) and a nonglycaemic control (sucralose), on cognition, mood, and satiety.

In this trial, 55 healthy adults received sucrose (GI 65), isomaltulose (GI 32), and sucralose (noncaloric negative control) drinks on separate occasions. The Complex Figure test, the Word Recall test, Trail Making Test Part B, and the Stroop test were administered 60 min after beverages ingestion. The investigators then tested mood and satiety along with cognitive performance.

No significant differences were found between isomaltulose and sucrose in the mean for the following: complex figure (immediate recall: –0.6, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], –1.7 to 0.5; delayed recall: –0.8, 95 percent CI, –1.9 to 0.3); word recall (immediate recall: 0.2, 95 percent CI, –0.7 to 1.1; delayed recall: 0.5, 95 percent CI, –0.4 to 1.4); trail making (completing time: –2.4 s, 95 percent CI, –7.5 to 2.7); Stroop (time used for correct congruent responses: –9 ms, 95 percent CI, –31 to 14; correct incongruent responses: –18 ms, 95 percent CI, –42 to 6).

In addition, there were no differences in the mood and satiety scores among beverages, with the exception that participants felt more energetic 60 min after isomaltulose ingestion (p=0.028 for difference with sucrose) and hungrier 30 min after isomaltulose ingestion (p=0.036 for differences with sucrose; p=0.022 for difference with sucralose).