Functional properties and predicted glycemic index of gluten free cereal, pseudocereal and legume flours

Abstract

Most of gluten free (GF) bakery products available on the market are made by a restricted number of grains. Flours and starches from rice and maize are mainly used. For this reason, people affected by celiac disease frequently suffer of nutritional deficiencies and have high intake of some nutrients. The use of a wider range of GF flours, rich in nutrients and phytochemicals, may improve the nutritional quality of GF products.This study aimed at the characterization of twelve GF flours obtained from cereals, pseudocereals and legumes for what concerns their functional properties, starch composition, phenolic and flavonoid content, and their effect on glycemic index (GI), that was estimated in vitro. In particular, starch composition had an influence on predicted glycemic index (pGI). pGI and damaged starch were positively related, whereas flavonoid, amylose and resistant starch (RS) contents were negatively related to pGI. In general, for all the parameters considered, cereals, except for rice flour, showed similar behavior, so as legumes. On the contrary, pseudocereals presented quite different characteristics between each other, due to their different botanical origin. The knowledge of starch composition, its relationship with GI, and functional properties could contribute to the selection of flours for healthier GF bakery products. the Determination of Antioxidant Capacity and Polyphenols in Cereal Food Components." Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 30(2): 94-101.

Use of Underexploited Flours for the Reduction of Glycaemic Index of Gluten-Free Biscuits: Physicochemical and Sensory Characterization

“…WAC represents the capacity of the flour to bind with water and may help to retain a softer texture in bakery products (Du et al, 2014). Among GF flour mixes, samples containing millet flour had a higher WAC (p < 0.05), confirming the trend reported in a previous study (Di Cairano et al, 2020). The major presence of fibre in millet flour (as in technical sheet, data not reported) explains the major capacity of water absorption of mixes containing it.…”

“…Indeed, grouping sample according to the type of cereal used, the area under the curve (AUC) of formulations with millet was significantly lower than the ones with sorghum (p < 0.05). This could be explained by the higher content of amylose of millet flour compared to sorghum, whose starch is constituted by a higher amount of amylopectin (Di Cairano et al, 2020). Amylopectin is more digestible than amylose, having a large surface area available for enzymatic attack (Singh et al, 2010).…”

“…In example, Molinari et al (2018) found a reduction of pGI of gluten-free biscuits when replacing part of rice flour with buckwheat one (110.2 vs 62.8). Buckwheat flour was the main flour employed in our GF biscuits, and compared to rice flour, itself can already give a contribution to pGI reduction (Bączek et al, 2020;Di Cairano et al, 2020;Wolter et al, 2013). Indeed, the presence of lipids, proteins, dietary fibre, rutin, phytic acid, protease inhibitor, and tannins in buckwheat reduces the availability of starch to enzymatic hydrolysis due to their interaction with starch itself or with alpha amylase (Molinari et al, 2018;Wolter et al, 2013).…”

“…It has been reported that the use of more nutrient dense flours could improve the nutritional quality of GF products (Cannas et al, 2020;Di Cairano et al, 2018;Foschia et al, 2016;Martínez-Villaluenga et al, 2020). The use of ingredients rich in rapidly digestible starch and with a low phenolic content can contribute to the increase of blood glucose level (Di Cairano et al, 2020;Moraes et al, 2015;Sun & Miao, 2020).…”

Recent developments and knowledge in pseudocereals including technological aspects

“…Polyphenols are the most abundant secondary plant metabolites found in pseudocereals. Di Cairano et al (2020) compared 12 cereals and legumes and determined the highest total phenolic content in buckwheat, followed by quinoa. Buckwheat possessed the highest flavonoid content, while amaranth displayed moderate amounts of both compounds.…”