Composition and Functional Properties of Banana Flour from Different Varieties

Abstract

The chemical composition and some physico‐chemical characteristics of the flour obtained from eight different banana varieties are presented. The flour was prepared by freeze‐drying a homogenate of green banana pulp. Amylose, starch, dietary fiber, protein, ash, moisture and lipid contents were determined. Viscosity and gelatinization of starch were also investigated. Banana flour is rich in starch granules. Peak temperature of gelatinization varied from 68 to 76 °C according to the variety. All of them showed an increase in viscosity during cooling but the variety Ouro colatina showed more stability during shearing and cooling. Chemical composition of the flour also varied according to the variety. The range obtained were 61—76.5% starch, 19—23% amylose, 2.5—3.3% protein, 4—6% moisture, 0.3—0.8% lipids, 2.6—3.5% ashes, and 6—15.5% total fiber. Considering that the flour production is easier and faster than the isolation of the starch, it would be not only more practical but also less expensive to use the flour instead.

Composition, Digestibility and Application in Breadmaking of Banana Flour

“…An important parameter of an ingredient used in bakery formulations is its lipid content. The BF analysed in this work had a lipid content of 2.69%, higher than the values reported by others for BF prepared from diverse unripe banana, being estimated to be between 0.33 and 0.82% [17]. The high lipid content reported here (in this work) could be due to that in our study a complete banana was used (peel and pulp).…”

“…In this sense, the nutritional/nutraceutical potential of unripe banana starch and fiber have been claimed by several authors [16][17][18][19].…”

Inhibition of β-amylase activity, starch degradation and sucrose formation by indole-3-acetic acid during banana ripening

“…Besides the demonstration of protein phosphorylation as a mechanism for regulation of SPS activity, there is also experimental evidence that gene expression can make an important contribution to the overall increase in SPS activity in kiwifruits (LangenkaÈ mper et al 1998), citrus (Komatsu et al 1999) and bananas (Nascimento et al 1997). Previously (Nascimento et al 1997), we found that SPS transcription was increased during banana ripening, but that SPS transcripts and activity were at their highest several days before the onset of sucrose accumulation. At the same time the activation state, given by the ratio of activity under limiting/saturating conditions, did not change.…”

“…However, there is evidence that the amylolytic pathway should not be ruled out. The increase in several amylolytic enzymes, such as a-amylase, b-amylase, and a-glucosidases during ripening (Garcia and Lajolo 1988;Kitazato et al 1991), and also the large proportion of amylopectin in banana starch granules (Mota et al 2000) point to a coordinated action of both amylolytic and phosphorolytic starch degradation. Another piece of evidence to support this amylolytic pathway would be the presence of a-amylase, which is recognized as the only enzyme that can attack native starch granules (Hallett et al 1995;Sivak and Preiss 1998).…”

“…For membrane re-probing, the ®lters were washed as recommended by the manufacturer. The inserts of SPS (Nascimento et al 1997), SuSy , and b-amylase (Medina-Sua rez et al 1997; clone pBAN-UU32) clones were isolated by restriction, separated in agarose gels and puri®ed using the Prep-A-Gene DNA Puri®cation System (BioRad). The cDNA probes were 32 P-labeled using the Ready-To-Go Labeling Kit (Pharmacia), hybridized overnight at 42°C under standard conditions in 50% formamide, and the membranes were washed and exposed to ®lms at )80°C (Sambrook et al 1989).…”