This study by Kallio et al. sought to clarify whether long-term consumption of cereal products with different postprandial insulin responses could modulate levels of inflammatory markers in subjects with the metabolic syndrome. For that purpose, 47 overweight and obese men and women with the metabolic syndrome, as identified by the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III, were recruited to participate in a 12-week dietary intervention program. Dietary intervention consisted of replacing normally consumed breads with oat and wheat breads, potatoes, or rye bread and pasta during the test period. Study results showed that modifying carbohydrate intake by replacing cereal products with rye bread and pasta, which cause a low postprandial insulin response, and with oat and wheat bread and potatoes, which cause a high postprandial insulin response, differentially modulated the mRNA expression of inflammatory markers in both adipose tissue and circulating concentrations of serum in men and women with the metabolic syndrome, even in the absence of weight loss. Thus, the proinflammatory changes associated with high oat and wheat bread and potato intake could increase the long-term risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
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