Physical properties and estimated glycemic index of protein-enriched sorghum based chips

Gluten-free grains: Importance, processing and its effect on quality of gluten-free products

Gluten-enteropathy affects a significant number of people, making gluten a major concern in the food industry. With medical advancements, the diagnosis of allergies is becoming easier, and people who are allergic to gluten are recommended a complete gluten-free diet. Since wheat provides a major part of the energy and nutrition in the diet, its elimination affects nutrition intake of allergic population. Food scientists are working to formulate products using protein-rich gluten-free grains with quality attributes at par with gluten-containing products. Focused research has been done to provide nutrition and a variety of food to people suffering from gluten-related disorders. Efforts are being made to remove the gluten from the wheat and other gluten-containing grains, while applying different processing/treatments to enhance the properties of gluten-free grains. Hence, the present review summarizes the importance, processing, and products of different gluten-free grains. It also highlights the digestibility of gluten-free grains with clinical trials and gluten elimination strategies for gluten-containing grains.

In vitro glycemic index, antioxidant capacity and some physicochemical characteristics of deep-fried sorghum based gluten free chips

In this study, deep fried gluten free chips were manufactured using sorghum flour at different concentrations (5, 20, 35 and 50 g/100 g) and in vitro glycemic index, total antioxidant capacity and some physicochemical characteristics (dry matter, ash, oil, protein and color) and overall acceptability of the samples were investigated. Protein, oil and total dietary fiber levels of the samples ranged between 5.39-8.28, 23.58-29.10 and 5.59-6.60 g/100 g, respectively and increase in sorghum flour level resulted in an increase in these studied quality parameters of the chips samples. Ferric reducing antioxidant activity and DPPH radical scavenging performance were affected positively by the addition of sorghum flour. Total starch hydrolysis index and estimated glycemic index values were affected by the sorghum flour addition negatively due to the increased total dietary fiber content of the chips samples. All chips samples enriched with sorghum flour showed similar overall acceptability and increased sorghum concentration decreased the preference scores slightly. All these results could be considered for the manufacturing of the gluten free deep fried sorghum based chips samples.

Glycemic index values of traditional Kenyan foods: the missing link in the effectiveness of dietary approach in the prevention and management of diabetes mellitus in Kenya

BACKGROUND

Glycemic index (GI) measures postprandial blood sugar after consumption of carbohydrate-rich foodstuff. Kenya is yet to fully embrace this concept in prevention and management of diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE

To review and tabulate GIs of locally consumed foods in order to improve dietary management of diabetes mellitus.

METHODOLOGY

A literature search was conducted using Google scholar and PubMed databases which identified 7 articles on glycemic index values of Kenyan foods published between 2002 and 2020. Two articles failed to meet the inclusion criteria and five proceeded for review. Key search words used included GI, glycemic load and glycemic response combined with Kenya. The data was reported depending on whether the testing involved healthy individuals or patients suffering from diabetes mellitus.

RESULTS

Nine individual foods and 7 mixed meals were identified. Low GI foods included beans and whole maize ugali consumed alongside cowpea leaves. High GI foods included whole maize ugali eaten with beef, boiled rice, boiled cassava and cassava-sorghum ugali eaten with silver fish.

CONCLUSION

Proper meal mixing is important in diabetes management. Cowpea leaves and beans possess GI lowering potential. This information can be used to improve guidance on food choices for diabetes patients.

Quality characteristics of snacks produced from nixtamalized corn flours of new drought-tolerant yellow corn hybrids

Introduction. Producing new maize cultivars in areas with limited water resources is the main task of plant breeders. However, there is little information regarding their technological characteristics and industrial potential. Besides, snacks have gained worldwide acceptability and become part of modern food culture, especially among young people and children. Thus, our study aimed to produce corn snacks from new yellow corn hybrids planted under water stress in Delta region, Egypt. Study objects and methods. We investigated healthy processing techniques and used nixtamalization and baking instead of frying. We also evaluated the chemical composition and starch crystallinity of flour, the rheological properties of dough, as well as color attributes and sensory characteristics of baked snacks. Results and discussion. Significant differences (P ˂ 0.05) were found between all corn genotypes in their fat, protein, ash, crude fiber, and carbohydrate contents. The experimental drought conditions caused higher protein and fat contents compared to normal conditions. X-ray diffraction indicated that nixtamalization decreased starch crystallinity. Also, X-ray and rapid visco analysis showed that Y2 genotype exhibited the highest crystallinity and the lowest pasting properties, while Y3 and Y5 had the lowest crystallinity and the highest pasting properties. Baked snacks made from nixtamalized corn flour of genotypes planted under drought conditions had comparable quality characteristics in terms of color and sensory properties to the control snacks made from SC178 genotype planted under normal conditions. Conclusion. The new corn hybrids grown in limited water conditions and the developed snacks represent a healthy alternative to cornbased fried snacks.

The Effect of the Body Mass Indexes of Young Healthy Individuals on the Glyacemic Indexes of Traditional and Modified Vegetarian Meals

Blood glucose concentration increases after the consumption of any carbohydrate-containing meal. Several factors affect the course of glucose metabolism, including nutritional status. This study evaluated the effect of the nutritional statuses of adults on their glycaemic responses after the consumption of some vegetarian meals (dumplings with potato and curd cheese stuffing; curd cheese dumplings; pancakes with curd cheese), prepared according to the traditional recipe and a partly modified recipe. The 105 participants, aged 20-27 years, with different body mass indexes (BMI), took an oral glucose tolerance test after the intake of a standard glucose solution, and also after each meal (previously analysed for energy value and approximate composition). The consumption of each meal by participants with different nutritional statuses elicited different glycaemic responses, which were reflected in the diverse glycaemic indexes (GIs). The partial modification of the meal recipes contributed to lowering their GIs. Vast differences were observed in the glycaemic responses among the surveyed participants after the consumption of the same meals. The GIs of meals should be determined in different groups of people.

Quality and estimated glycemic profile of baked protein-enriched corn chips

This study aimed to develop gluten-free protein-enriched corn snack chips and evaluate their physical properties and in vitro estimated glycemic index. Flours containing yellow corn and soybean flours, and soy protein isolate (in a proportion of 2.5:1.0:1.0 by weight respectively), cellulose gum, salt, and baking powder were homogeneously mixed followed by the addition of water and kneaded to form a dough. Response surface methodology was used to optimize baking powder levels (0-2.0%), dough sheet thickness (0.7-1.7 mm), and baking time (6-12 min) of the chips baked at 160 °C. Dough sheet thickness and baking time had significant effect on all the examined physical properties (water activity ranged from 0.15 to 0.71, hardness ranged from 377 to 2105 g, and browning index ranged from 38.4 to 60.7) (P < 0.05) except fracturability. However, all the variables had a significant quadratic effect on the fracturability (ranged from 1 to 23 peaks) of the chips (P < 0.01). The chips prepared from 1.2% baking powder, 1.2 mm dough sheet thickness, and baked for 9.0 min were considered the best and were significantly lower in the estimated GI value (48.8) (P < 0.05) when compared to non-soy corn chips (75.0). These baked protein-enriched corn chips developed could be considered as protein-rich and low glycemic index healthy snacks.