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Cooking behavior and starch digestibility of

NUTRIOSE (resistant starch) enriched
noodles from sweet potato flour and starch
ARTICLE in FOOD CHEMISTRY SEPTEMBER 2015
Impact Factor: 3.39 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.02.148

3 AUTHORS, INCLUDING:
G. Padmaja
Central Tuber Crops Research Institute
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Retrieved on: 26 August 2015

Food Chemistry 182 (2015) 217223

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Food Chemistry
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem

Cooking behavior and starch digestibility of NUTRIOSE (resistant

starch) enriched noodles from sweet potato our and starch
Renjusha Menon, G. Padmaja , M.S. Sajeev
Division of Crop Utilization, ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 28 November 2014
Received in revised form 25 February 2015
Accepted 25 February 2015
Available online 9 March 2015
Keywords:
Cooking loss
Starch digestibility
Glycaemic index
Sensory evaluation
Starch and our noodles
Sweet potato

a b s t r a c t
The effect of a resistant starch source, NUTRIOSE FB06 at 10%, 15% and 20% in sweet potato our (SPF)
and 5% and 10% in sweet potato starch (SPS) in reducing the starch digestibility and glycaemic index of
noodles was investigated. While NUTRIOSE (10%) signicantly reduced the cooking loss in SPF noodles,
this was enhanced in SPS noodles and guar gum (GG) supplementation reduced CL of both noodles. In
vitro starch digestibility (IVSD) was signicantly reduced in test noodles compared to 73.6 g glucose/
100 g starch in control SPF and 65.9 g in SPS noodles. Resistant starch (RS) was 54.96% for NUTRIOSE
(15%) + GG (1%) fortied SPF noodles and 53.3% for NUTRIOSE (5%) + GG (0.5%) fortied SPS noodles, as
against 33.8% and 40.68%, respectively in SPF and SPS controls. Lowest glycaemic index (54.58) and
the highest sensory scores (4.23) were obtained for noodles with 15% NUTRIOSE + 1% GG.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Pasta or spaghetti is a traditional Italian food, which is easy to
cook and contains complex carbohydrates that impart the slow
digestibility property (Bjrck, Liljeberg, & Ostman, 2000; Fardet
et al., 1998).
With a view to increasing the functional benets of pasta, several workers have attempted fortication with non-wheat additives, ber and protein sources, resistant starch etc. (Chillo,
Laverse, Falcone, Protopapa, & Del Nobile, 2008; Gelencsr, Gal,
Hodsayi, & Salgo, 2008; Goi & Valentin-Gamazo, 2003). The rapid
increase in lifestyle diseases such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer and cardiovascular problems coupled with the global awareness on these issues have increased the demand for ber
enriched health foods (Buttriss & Stokes, 2008; Tucker & Thomas,
2009). Glycaemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrate rich foods,
based on their relative ability to release glucose into blood (Bjrck
et al., 2000). Consumption of low glycaemic foods rich in ber has
been reported to reduce obesity and its linked problems such as
diabetes and heart disease as well as in exerting protective effects
against certain types of cancer (Buttriss & Stokes, 2008; Gelencsr

Corresponding author at: Division of Crop Utilization, ICAR-Central Tuber Crops

Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram 695 017, Kerala, India. Tel.: +91 471
2598551; fax: +91 471 2590063.
E-mail address: padmajabn@yahoo.com (G. Padmaja).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.02.148
0308-8146/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

et al., 2008; Goi & Valentin-Gamazo, 2003). The low glycaemic

nature of pasta is attributed to its compact structure resulting from
the starchprotein network which exerts a barrier to the free entry
of a-amylase during the digestion process (Fardet et al., 1998; Kim
et al., 2008).
Sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] is recognized globally
as a low glycaemic food with a GI of <55 (Bjrck et al., 2000) and
several workers have attempted the development of pasta and spaghetti products from sweet potato our (Jyothi, Renjusha, Padmaja,
Sajeev, & Moorthy, 2011; Jyothi, Renjusha, Padmaja, Sajeev, &
Moorthy, 2012; Limroongreungrat & Huang, 2007). Fortication
of sweet potato our with starches such as banana or legumes
and ber sources was reported to reduce the GI of sweet potato
spaghetti (Renjusha, Padmaja, & Sajeev, 2014; Renjusha, Padmaja,
Sajeev, & Sheriff, 2012). Despite the fact that sweet potato our
is less costly than its starch, sweet potato starch noodles are a
favorite food in China, Philippines, Korea and Thailand and the
suitability of varieties, improvement of starch noodle quality using
modied starches etc. have been reported (Tan, Li, & Tan, 2009;
Thao & Noomhorm, 2011). Besides, starch noodles have low nutritional and functional value, as starch is the only ingredient unlike
in the case of our which has a dietary ber content of 23% (Jyothi
et al., 2012).
Resistant starch, is gaining lot of importance recently as a food
additive due to its number of physiological effects such as prevention of colonic cancer, hypoglycaemic action, reduction in gall

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R. Menon et al. / Food Chemistry 182 (2015) 217223

stone formation, hypocholesterolaemic effect, control of obesity

etc. (Asp & Bjrck, 1992; Nugent, 2005; Sajilata, Singhal, &
Kulkarni, 2006). Resistant starch enriched pasta has been reported
from wheat, banana and sweet potato (Jyothi et al., 2012; OvandoMartinez, Ayerdi, Acevedo, Goi, & Perez, 2009; Villalobos, Diaz,
Acevedo, Tovar, & Perez, 2008). NUTRIOSE is a partially hydrolyzed starch from wheat or corn which is reported to be rich in
dietary ber (Gurin-Deremaux, Li, et al., 2011; GurinDeremaux, Pochat, et al., 2011; Van den Heuvel et al., 2004;
Vermorel et al., 2004). NUTRIOSE fortied foods are reported to
reduce hunger and promote satiety in humans (GurinDeremaux, Li, et al., 2011; Gurin-Deremaux, Pochat, et al., 2011;
Gurin-Deremaux, Pochat, Reifer, Wils, & Miller, 2013). Being a
product with high digestive tolerance, low glycaemic index (<25)
and good stability to high temperature process, NUTRIOSE is gaining acceptability among processors as a RS rich food additive, having non-viscous soluble nature and it is reported that during the
controlled process of dextrinization, wheat or corn starch undergoes partial hydrolysis to dextrin, followed by repolymerization
which imparts the properties of resistant starch to NUTRIOSE
(Lefranc-Millot, 2008). Previous studies in our laboratory have
shown that sweet potato spaghetti with medium GI or slow starch
digestibility could be made through fortication with banana or
legume starches, dietary ber sources, hydrocolloids etc. (Jyothi
et al., 2012; Renjusha et al., 2012, 2014). Nevertheless, the GI could
not be brought below <55 to rate them as truly low glycaemic
foods. Hence, the objective of this study was to reduce the starch
digestibility of sweet potato our and starch based noodles, using
NUTRIOSE FB06 (wheat based) as a RS rich additive and to study
the effect of fortication on the nutritional, cooking and textural
characteristics.
Hydrocolloids are extensively used in the food industry as gluten substitute and also to provide good dough properties and are
reported to reduce starch digestibility of pasta and noodles
(Briani et al., 2006; Silva, Brikenhake, Scholten, Sagis, & Vander
Linden, 2013). Hence the combined effect of NUTRIOSE and guar
gum in reducing the glycaemic index of noodles was also studied.

2. Materials and methods

Pale cream eshed sweet potato variety, Sree Arun, harvested at
105 days from the Institute farm was used for the study. The roots
were cleaned free of dirt, peeled and sliced to round discs of
0.5 mm thickness. The pieces after soaking in 1% acetic acid
(1:5 w/v) for 1 h (to prevent browning) were drained, washed in
fresh water and dried in the sunlight for 36 h. Dry chips were powdered in a hammer mill and sieved (pore size: 355 lm) to obtain
ne our, which was stored in airtight containers till use. Rened
wheat our (RWF) and edible grade sunower oil was purchased
from the local market. Whey protein concentrate (WPC) with a
protein content of 70% and fat content of 4.32% (PROCON 3700)
was purchased from M/s Mahaan Proteins Ltd., Uttar Pradesh,
India. Guar gum was purchased from M/s Lucid Colloids Pvt. Ltd.,
Mumbai, India and NUTRIOSE FB 06 (wheat-based) was purchased from M/s Roquette India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India.
NUTRIOSE FB06 is reported to have a dietary ber content of
85%, approximately 15% of which is digested and 75% is fermented
in the colon (Lefranc-Millot, 2008).

2.1. Preparation of sweet potato starch

High quality starch (with bright color) was prepared from sweet
potato roots as per the method described earlier (Renjusha et al.,
2012).

2.2. Noodle formulations

Two types each of sweet potato our (SPF) based noodles and
starch based noodles were prepared. The control SPF based noodles
(C1) had SPF (75 g), RWF (10 g), WPC (10 g) and oil (5 g) per 100 g
dry mix. In the test formulations T1, T2 and T3, 10%, 15% and 20%
NUTRIOSE were added at the expense of SPF. Based on the lowest
glycaemic index, the treatment containing 60% SPF was chosen and
further modied with 0.5% guar gum (GG; T4) or 1.0% GG (T5) at
the expense of SPF.
Sweet potato starch (SPS) noodles without and with GG were
also prepared. Control starch noodles (C2) had SPS (75 g), WPC
(20 g) and edible oil (5 g) per 100 g dry mix, while the two treatments T6 and T7 contained respectively 5% and 10% NUTRIOSE,
added at the expense of SPS. In the case of T8 and T9, GG was also
supplemented at the rate of 0.5% and 1.0% respectively, along with
20% WPC, 5.0% NUTRIOSE, 5% oil and 69.5% SPS (T8) or 69% SPS
(T9).
2.3. Preparation of our and starch noodles
In order to make our noodles, the dry ingredients were mixed
in a blender for 2 min., followed by the addition of oil and blending
for 1 min. Adequate quantity of water (ranging from 400 to
450 ml per kg our mix) depending on the treatment combination
to obtain a properly hydrated mix, was added and mixed again.
This was then extruded through a pasta machine (P3 model from
M/s La Monferrina, Italy) using the noodle die No. 11 and the
extruded noodle was dried overnight (18 h) at 50 C to bring down
the moisture content to <12%.
In the case of the starch noodles, 5% starch was gelatinized in a
water bath by the double plate method and added back to the rest
of the ingredients and mixed well. Adequate quantity of water
(300320 ml/kg mix) was also added and after thorough blending,
the mix was extruded through the pasta machine using the noodle
die (No. 9). The noodle strands were directly extruded to boiling
water and after 3 min. they were transferred to cold water
(810 C) for 2 min. (Chen et al., 2002). The low temperature conditioned strands were manually separated and arranged in a drying
tray. This was then dried at 50 C for 18 h in a hot air oven and the
dry noodles were sealed in polyethylene bags until use.
2.4. Analytical methods
The cooking behavior of the noodles was studied by cooking
dried (105 C for 2 h) noodles in boiling water (Renjusha et al.,
2014). Swelling index (SI) was computed using the formula of
Mestres, Colonna, and Buleon (1988) and the cooking loss (%)
was determined as the weight of dry residue expressed as the percentage of original noodle sample (Debbous & Doetkott, 1996).
The major nutrients such as starch and crude protein were analyzed in the cooked samples, in order to understand how cooking
affected the loss of nutrients from the various treatment combinations. Starch was determined by method of Moorthy and Padmaja
(2002). Crude protein was quantied by Kjeldahl method (AOAC,
1995) by multiplying the nitrogen value with 6.25.
In vitro starch digestibility was evaluated as per the methods of
Englyst, Veenstra, and Hudson (1996), McCleary and Monaghan
(2002) and Kim et al. (2008), with some modications as reported
by Renjusha et al. (2014). Fifty grams of cooked and drained spaghetti was cut into small pieces to simulate human consumption
and 5.0 g each of the samples were then mixed with HClKCl buffer
(pH 1.5; 10.0 ml) and allowed to equilibrate in a thermostatic
water bath (SW 21; M/s Julabo Industries) for 10 min. at 37 C.
Pepsin (EC 3.4.23.1; M/s SIGMA, USA) was added to each sample
to initiate proteolysis (0.4 ml per sample from an enzyme solution

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R. Menon et al. / Food Chemistry 182 (2015) 217223

containing 1.0 g pepsin in 10 ml HClKCl buffer). After one hour

incubation at 37 C, 40 ml sodium phosphate buffer containing
0.12 M sodium chloride (0.02 M; pH 6.9) was added to each sample. One Panzynorm-N tablet (manufactured by M/s German
Remedies India Ltd., Mumbai, India) containing 10,000 units of
lipase, 9000 units of alpha-amylase and 500 units of protease,
was dissolved in 5.0 ml sodium phosphate buffer (0.1 M; pH 8.0)
and one milliliter of enzyme each was added to the samples and
incubated for 2 h. Sample aliquots (1.0 ml) were withdrawn from
the assay system after every 20 min. up to 2 h. It was then heat
inactivated and added to 3.0 ml sodium acetate buffer (0.2 M; pH
4.8) and incubated at 60 C for further 10 min. along with
0.25 ml dextrozyme GA (M/s Novo Industries, Denmark). Glucose
released in each system was quantied by the Glucose oxidase
(EC 1.1.3.4) PAP method (M/S Beacon Diagnostics Pvt. Ltd.,
Gujarat, India). Glucose released from 20 to 120 min. was
expressed on 100 g starch basis for the various samples in order
to nullify the difference in starch content between the formulations. Enzyme and substrate blanks were maintained for each
replicate to nullify the free sugars originally present in the test
or enzyme samples.
Starch fractions such as rapidly digested starch (RDS), slowly
digested starch (SDS) and resistant starch (RS) were computed
from the starch digestibility kinetics and as given below:

RDS % G20  0:9 expressed as % of total starch

SDS % G120  0:9 expressed as % of total starch

 RDS

G20 and G120 are glucose released respectively at 20 and

120 min.

RS % 100  RDS SDS

The hydrolysis index (HI) was calculated as:

HI

Total glucose released from100g cooked sample on dry basis at120min:

Total glucose released from 100g white bread on dry basis at120min:
 100

Estimated glycaemic index (EGI) was computed using the formula of Goi, Garcia-Alonso, and Calixto (1997) as below:

EGI 39:71 0:549  HI

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Cooking behavior
The effect of fortication of SPF and SPS with NUTRIOSE, a nonviscous soluble dietary ber from wheat starch, either alone or in
combination with two levels of guar gum such as 0.5% and 1.0%
on the cooking behavior, nutritional and textural properties as well
as in vitro starch digestibility of SP our and starch noodles was
studied. Cooking loss was signicantly reduced for 10%
NUTRIOSE fortied SPF noodles, compared to the control noodles
made with SPF, RWF and WPC. Nevertheless, signicantly higher
CL (%) was observed for 20% NUTRIOSE. It was found that beyond
10% level of fortication, NUTRIOSE was not favoring rm binding,
which was evident from the higher cooking loss for 15% and 20%
levels (Table 1). NUTRIOSE gave adequate binding strength to the
freshly extruded noodles and there was no need to gelatinize part
of the our for better adhesion. Besides, 10% RWF was added to all
the treatments, which might have also contributed sufcient
gluten. Swelling index was also the least for the 10% NUTRIOSE fortied noodles. NUTRIOSE, which is partially hydrolyzed (dextrinized) wheat starch, might be forming a complex with gluten
which then encapsulates the starch granules, so that they undergo
only restricted swelling. Such encapsulation has been demonstrated by Colonna et al. (1990) and Fardet et al. (1998). Beyond
10% level, the excess NUTRIOSE might be only forming a loose network, which caused higher swelling on cooking.
In the case of control SPS noodles, CL (%) of 4.49 was observed.
However, when NUTRIOSE was added at 5% and 10% level, CL (%)
increased to 6.13 and 6.25, respectively (Table 1). Guar gum
(0.51%) fortication to 5% NUTRIOSE fortied noodles reduced
the CL signicantly. It was found that addition of NUTRIOSE
beyond 10% made noodle extrusion difcult, due to high degree
of stickiness of the mix during the process. NUTRIOSE fortication
promoted slightly higher cooking loss, probably because of the
binding between WPC and NUTRIOSE, leaving the starch to gelatinize freely and leach to the cooking water. Swelling index was not
signicantly different for the NUTRIOSE fortied samples, although
it was less than the control. While guar gum supplementation (1%)
signicantly reduced the swelling index (SI) of 5% NUTRIOSE fortied SPS noodles, the effect on SI was insignicant for SPF noodles
(Table 1). This type of restricted swelling of starch has been
reported in pasta by Dahle and Muenchow (1968), who found that

Three replicates were maintained for each analysis, except

crude protein, where only duplicate analyses were performed.
2.5. Sensory evaluation
The cooked noodles were evaluated for their sensorial attributes by the semi-trained sensory panellists consisting of ve persons in terms of appearance, avor, mouth feel and overall
acceptability using a 5-point Hedonic Scale (5 like extremely to
1 dislike extremely). The food products were coded and offered
simultaneously to each of the panellist in a random order. They
were instructed to clean and rinse their palette by drinking potable
warm water before and in between while evaluating each of the
products and the tests were conducted under uniform lighting
conditions.
2.6. Statistical analysis
Data were analyzed using the statistical package SAS 9.3 to perform ANOVA (SAS, 2010). The treatments were considered statistically signicant at 5% level (p < 0.05). The mean comparisons
were made by the Duncans Multiple Range Test (DMRT).

Table 1
Cooking characteristics* of sweet potato our (SPF) and starch (SPS) noodles fortied
with RS rich NUTRIOSE.
Sample

Cooking loss (%)

Swelling index

SPF noodles enriched with NUTRIOSE

C1
11.33b
T1
8.06d
T2
11.96b
T3
15.93a

2.09ab
1.54b
2.10ab
2.35a

SPF noodles enriched with 15% NUTRIOSE + guar gum

T4
9.09cd
T5
10.52bc

2.24ab
2.07ab

SPS noodles enriched with NUTRIOSE

C2
4.49c
T6
6.13a
T7
6.25a

2.89a
2.68bc
2.83ab

SPS noodles enriched with 5% NUTRIOSE + guar gum

T8
5.48b
T9
5.25b

2.66c
2.48d

*
Statistical comparison was made between the treatments and the respective
controls (C1 or C2). Means with the same superscript in each column (for our
noodles and starch noodles separately) are not statistically signicant.

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R. Menon et al. / Food Chemistry 182 (2015) 217223

the removal of lipids from cereals increased the loss of amylose

from pasta into cooking water and led to greater stickiness.
Addition of bran sources to sweet potato our was reported to
result in pasta products with checking on the surface and a gritty
mouth feel (Jyothi et al., 2012). Wandee et al. (2014) incorporated
cassava pulp and pomelo peel in rice noodles and reported higher
cooked weight than control, due to the increased water absorption
by the ber. Nevertheless, excessive swelling on cooking of noodles
is not considered a desirable attribute and it was found that
NUTRIOSE had the ability to restrict the swelling coupled with
enhancing the dietary ber content.

gum in reducing starch loss was insignicant in these noodles.

Jyothi et al. (2011) reported protein content of 9.4% and 16.4%,
respectively in 10% and 20% WPC fortied sweet potato pasta.
These values corroborate with the protein contents in 10% WPC
fortied SPF noodles and 20% WPC fortied SPS noodles in the present study (Table 2). Whey protein concentrates mimic gluten in
wheat due to its functional properties and hence could form rm
starchprotein network leading to a high retention of starch and
protein in the cooked pasta. Such rm starchprotein network
has been demonstrated in the ultrastructural studies on WPC fortied sweet potato pasta (Jyothi et al., 2011).

3.2. Nutritional prole of cooked noodles

3.3. Starch digestion kinetics

Though there was comparatively higher retention of starch in

the control SPF noodles, then the NUTRIOSE fortied noodles, CL
(%) was signicantly higher the control noodles. We found that
protein were retained to the maximum in 10% NUTRIOSE fortied
SPF noodles, which was not signicantly different from the control
and T2 (15% NUTRIOSE fortication). Based on the earlier studies in
our laboratory on protein fortied starch noodles from sweet
potato, 20% WPC was used for fortication in SPS noodles as
RWF was not a component in the SPS noodles and also because
WPC exhibited gluten mimicking properties. Nevertheless, 5% oil
was also added to the mix to facilitate binding and to get a product
without checking on the surface. Due to the difculty in noodle
extrusion resulting from the high binding strength of NUTRIOSE,
low levels of 5% and 10% only were used in SPS noodles. The apparent reduction in starch observed in the cooked SPF noodles from T1
and T2 resulted mainly from the dilution of starch in the our by
the NUTRIOSE (Table 2). The restricted swelling of starch caused
by the oil present in the noodles might also have helped in starch
retention to a higher extent.
Since NUTRIOSE is a partially dextrinized and repolymerised
starch (Lefranc-Millot, 2008), this may also account towards the
starch content in the cooked noodles as the chemical method used
for starch quantication involved acid hydrolysis. Hence the
observed decrease in starch content in the fortied SPF and SPS
noodles might have occurred from leaching of swollen
starch + NUTRIOSE. Higher level of fortication with NUTRIOSE
(15% and 20% in SPF and 10% in SPS) was found to reduce starch
retention in the respective noodles (Table 2). The effect of guar

Starch digestion kinetics was monitored during 20120 min.

under in vitro conditions for the control and test SPF noodles and
it was found that the digestion proceeded very slowly in the test
noodles and after 120 min., only 5368 g glucose were released
from 100 g starch in T1T3 (Table 3a), where as in the control
SPF noodles, 73.6 g glucose were released. When guar gum (GG)
was also incorporated into the mix, there was drastic reduction
in starch digestibility and 1.0% GG fortication exerted more effect
than 0.5% and only 50 g glucose were released/100 g starch after
120 min. from T5 (Table 3a), as compared to 55 g in 0.5% fortication (T4). Fortication with 20% NUTRIOSE gave noodles having
higher starch digestibility than 10% and 15% levels and the study
showed that 15% was the optimum level for SPF noodles to form
a rm structural network with proteins and excess addition did
not favor further binding of starch and this resulted in a greater
starch hydrolysis by the amylase.
This was further evident from the quantication of starch fractions such as RDS, SDS and RS. Signicantly low RDS values were
obtained for 15% NUTRIOSE set followed by the 10% fortication
and the total digestible starch (RDS + SDS) also followed a similar
pattern (Table 3b). Slowly digested starch (SDS), which is reported
as the good starch fraction, that gets slowly hydrolyzed, was more
in T1 and T2 while almost similar values were obtained for the control and T3. Resistant starch was the highest (52.11%) for the 15%
NUTRIOSE fortication (T2), which could be further enhanced to
54.96% through the inclusion of 1.0% GG also in the formulation
(T5).
In vitro starch digestion progressed much slowly for SPS noodles
than the SPF noodles (Table 4a). Least glucose release was observed
for T6 and T9 indicating that inclusion of 1.0% GG did not complement the effect of NUTRIOSE (Table 4a). Starch fractions computed
in the case of SPS noodles also showed that NUTRIOSE at 5% and
10% level exerted a highly signicant effect in reducing the digestible starch (RDS + SDS), and in increasing the RS in the products
(Table 4b). This effect was further complemented by GG addition,

Table 2
Nutritional characteristics* of sweet potato our and starch noodles enriched with RS
rich NUTRIOSE (cooked samples on dry basis).
Sample

Starch (g per 100 g)

Protein (g per 100 g)**

SPF noodles enriched with NUTRIOSE

C1
67.17a
T1
62.07b
T2
59.38c
T3
57.53d

9.80
10.16
9.98
9.03

SPF noodles enriched with 15% NUTRIOSE + guar gum

T4
59.24cd
T5
59.71c

10.15
10.33

SPS noodles enriched with NUTRIOSE

C2
70.87a
T6
67.81b
T7
62.78c

17.68
16.81
15.93

SPS noodles enriched with 5% NUTRIOSE + guar gum

T8
67.29b
T9
67.67b

14.88
15.23

Table 3a
In vitro starch digestibility of sweet potato our (SPF) noodles enriched with RS rich
NUTRIOSE.
Treatments

Glucose released (g glucose released per 100 g total starch)*

20 min.

Statistical comparison was made between the treatments and the respective
controls (C1 or C2). Means with the same superscript in each column (for our
noodles and starch noodles separately) are not statistically signicant.
**
Mean value from only two observations.

40 min.

60 min.

80 min.

100 min.

120 min.

66.98a
46.37d
43.68e
61.87b

70.22a
52.86c
49.12d
65.10b

73.55a
59.76c
53.22d
68.47b

SPF noodles enriched with 15% NUTRIOSE + guar gum

T4
39.25c
44.13b
46.97c
50.84c
T5
37.16c
39.96c
45.14d
46.97d

52.55c
48.75d

54.76d
50.05e

SPF noodles enriched with NUTRIOSE

C1
53.88a
57.31a
62.12a
T1
36.91c
41.30c
42.9e
T2
29.16d
33.23d
36.63f
T3
49.94b
57.13a
59.69b

*
Statistical comparison was made between the treatments and the control;
Means with the same superscript in each column are not statistically signicant.

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R. Menon et al. / Food Chemistry 182 (2015) 217223

Table 3b
Starch fractions (g per 100 g starch in cooked noodles on dry basis) in SPF noodles
enriched with RS rich NUTRIOSE.
Sample

Starch fractions (g per 100 g starch in cooked noodles

on dry basis)*
RDS

SDS

RS

17.70b
20.57a
21.65a
16.68b

33.80e
46.21c
52.11b
38.38d

SPF noodles enriched with 15% NUTRIOSE + guar gum

T4
35.33c
13.95c
T5
33.44c
11.60c

50.72b
54.96a

SPF noodles enriched with NUTRIOSE

C1
48.50a
T1
33.22c
T2
26.25d
T3
44.95b

*
Statistical comparison was made between the treatments and the control;
Means with the same superscript in each column are not statistically signicant.

to a greater extent by 0.5% GG, unlike in the case of SPF noodles,

where 1% GG + 15% NUTRIOSE, exerted a greater effect in elevating
the RS content.
Dietary ber sources have been reported to reduce the
digestibility of pasta (Gelencsr et al., 2008; Tudorica, Kuri, &
Brennan, 2002). Sweet potato pasta with low starch digestibility
was reported using bran and resistant starch sources such as
banana and legume starches (Jyothi et al., 2012; Renjusha et al.,
2012). As different from legume ours which contain viscous dietary bers, NUTRIOSE is a non-viscous soluble dietary ber
(Lefranc-Millot, 2008). NUTRIOSE FB06 used in the present study
is a partially hydrolyzed starch from wheat and Lefranc-Millot,
2008 reported that the repolymerization of starch converted part
of starch to ber during the process, leading to the formation of
non-digestible glycosidic bonds. NUTRIOSE also induced satiety
and produced low glycaemic and insulinaemic responses in
humans, thereby enabling weight management and control of type
2 diabetes (Donazzolo, Pelletier, & Cristiani 2003; Van den Heuvel
et al., 2004). It was found that SPF and SPS noodles enriched with
NUTRIOSE had very slow release of glucose during in vitro digestion for 120 min. indicating its potential as a dietary ber additive
to reduce the starch digestibility.
3.4. Glycaemic indices of noodles
The estimated glycaemic indices computed based on the formula of Goi et al. (1997) for various noodles from sweet potato
our and starch are given in Figs. 1a and 1b, respectively. It was
found that EGI could be signicantly brought down in the SPF noodles by fortifying the SPF with RS rich NUTRIOSE and the least
value of 55.23 (T2) was obtained for 15% NUTRIOSE. This could
be further reduced to 54.58 (T5) to obtain a truly low glycaemic
product, by adding 1.0% GG also to the 15% NUTRIOSE mix (Fig

Table 4a
In vitro starch digestibility of sweet potato starch (SPS) noodles enriched with RS rich
NUTRIOSE.
Treatments

Glucose released (g glucose released per 100 g total starch)*

20 min.

40 min.

60 min.

80 min.

100 min.

120 min.

Fig. 1a. Estimated glycaemic indices of sweet potato our noodles fortied with
NUTRIOSE; bars with the same alphabets on the top are not signicantly different.

Fig. 1b. Estimated glycaemic indices of sweet potato starch noodles fortied with
NUTRIOSE; other footnotes as in Fig. 1a.

1a). EGI for T4 (0.5% GG along with 15% NUTRIOSE) was not signicantly different from T2 (without GG), indicating that at least 1%
GG fortication is necessary to get the desired glycaemic index
lowering effect.
The control SPS noodles had EGI of 62.95 and NUTRIOSE fortication signicantly brought it down to 58.38 (5% NUTRIOSE) and
59.37 (10% NUTRIOSE) respectively (Fig. 1b). It was observed from
earlier studies on SPS noodles in our laboratory that the control SPS
noodles from 100% starch had EGI of 78.64 and 20% WPC fortied
SPS noodles had EGI of 70.6 (unpublished data). It could be therefore concluded from the present study that oil addition to the mix
alone could bring down the EGI by 7 units. There are reports that
starch-lipid complexes could restrict the swelling of starch and
its digestion (Kim & Seib, 1993). Guar gum (0.5%) exerted a complementary action with 5% NUTRIOSE in further reducing the EGI
Table 4b
Starch fractions (g per 100 g starch in cooked noodles on dry basis) in SPS noodles
enriched with RS rich NUTRIOSE.
Sample

Starch fractions (g per 100 g starch in cooked noodles

on dry basis)*
RDS

SDS

RS

57.82a
50.41c
55.56d

60.75a
50.75d
57.35b

65.91a
55.31c
62.96b

SPS noodles enriched with NUTRIOSE

C2
40.21a
T6
37.26b
T7
39.59a

19.11a
12.52c
17.08b

40.68d
50.22b
43.33c

SPS noodles enriched with 5% NUTRIOSE + guar gum

T8
33.81c
36.39d
40.24d
44.65d
T9
40.45b
42.58c
43.32c
49.60c

47.64e
52.85c

51.88d
55.04c

SPS noodles enriched with 5% NUTRIOSE + guar gum

T8
30.43c
16.27b
T9
36.40b
13.14c

53.31a
50.46b

SPS noodles enriched with NUTRIOSE

C2
44.68c
48.01a
53.51a
T6
41.40b
44.95b
47.05b
T7
43.99a
47.10a
53.75a

*
Statistical comparison was made between the treatments and the control;
Means with the same superscript in each column are not statistically signicant.

*
Means with the same superscript in each column are not statistically
signicant.

222

R. Menon et al. / Food Chemistry 182 (2015) 217223

to 57.22, to result in a medium GI product, while 1.0% GG had no

signicant effect. This was further supported by the RS values as
well (Table 4b).
Tudorica et al. (2002) observed that the interaction between
guar gum and proteinstarch matrix in pasta followed a complex
pattern and lower levels of GG stabilized and increased the pasta
rmness, while higher levels brought a signicant decrease. The
ndings obtained in the SPS noodles with higher levels of GG
(1%) giving more digestibility of starch was supported by the studies of Tudorica et al. (2002). Guar gum at lower levels was incorporated into the starchprotein matrix, becoming an integral part of
pasta structure and hence could encapsulate the starch granules,
thereby leading to their restricted swelling and unavailability for
enzyme action (Brennan, Blake, Ellis, & Schoeld, 1996).
Nevertheless, in the case of SPF noodles a reverse pattern was
observed with higher levels of GG (1%), which might have resulted
from the competitive hydration ability of sweet potato our,
NUTRIOSE and guar gum, which could lead to limited swelling of
starch during cooking.
Pasta and noodles are reported as low GI foods resulting from
the complex carbohydrates forming a network with proteins.
NUTRIOSE was found to be an excellent additive to obtain low glycaemic noodles from sweet potato our and starch. A truly low GI
(54.58) noodle could be obtained in the present study using
NUTRIOSE (15%) + GG (1%) fortication in SPF. Starch noodles fortied with NUTRIOSE (5%) + GG (0.5%) fell into the category of
medium GI (57.22) food. Sweet potato starch noodles are generally
made from 100% starch and hence lack nutritional quality. As WPC
and NUTRIOSE are fortied to SPS, the noodles made in the present
study are functionally and nutritionally superior to conventional
SPS noodles.
3.5. Sensory evaluation of cooked noodles
Sweet potato our and starch noodles were evaluated for their
sensory attributes such as appearance, avor, mouth feel and overall acceptability. The highest rating (3.37) for appearance was
obtained for control SPF noodles, which was not signicantly different from the 10% to 15% NUTRIOSE fortied noodles. Further
increase in the fortication level of NUTRIOSE to 20% decreased
the scores for appearance, avor and mouth feel (Table 5). It was
Table 5
Sensory evaluation* of sweet potato our (SPF) and starch (SPS) noodles enriched
with RS rich NUTRIOSE.
Sample

Appearance

Flavor

SPF noodles enriched with NUTRIOSE

C1
3.37a
3.30b
T1
3.36a
4.13a
T2
3.23ab
3.30b
T3
2.23c
2.47c

Mouth feel

Overall acceptability

3.20a
3.27a
2.23b
1.57c

3.23b
3.10b
2.10c
1.53d

SPF noodles enriched with 15% NUTRIOSE + guar gum

T4
3.20b
4.07a
3.23a
T5
3.27ab
3.17b
2.37b
SPS noodles enriched with NUTRIOSE
C2
4.13a
3.27b
T6
4.23a
4.03a
T7
4.13a
3.40b

3.40
3.40a
2.17c

SPS noodles enriched with 5% NUTRIOSE + guar gum

T8
4.07a
3.91a
3.30ab
T9
3.23b
3.90a
2.97b

4.23a
3.30b
b

3.13
3.40b
2.40c

4.13a
3.13b

*
Values are mean of the data collected from ve panellists. Using 5 point
hedonic scale (5 like extremely; 4 like very much; 3 like moderately; 2
dislike very much; 1 dislike extremely). Statistical comparison was made between
the treatments and the respective controls (C1 or C2). Means with the same
superscript in each column (for our noodles and starch noodles separately) are not
statistically signicant.

found that the overall acceptability was signicantly improved

when 0.5% GG was also fortied to SPF mix containing 15%
NUTRIOSE. Guar gum and NUTRIOSE fortication did not alter
the appearance of SPS noodles except the GG (1%) fortication,
which had signicantly low scores. Nevertheless, highest scores
for overall acceptability were obtained for (5% NUTRIOSE + 0.5%
GG) fortied SPS noodles.
Although fortication with additives such as NUTRIOSE, WPC or
GG reduced the transparency of SPS noodles, the quality upgradation obtained was considered to positively inuence the avor,
mouth feel and overall acceptability of SPS noodles. Gimnez
et al. (2015) in a study on the gluten-free Andean corn spaghetti,
found that the perception of quality of by celiac patients was
totally different from that by non-coeliac consumers, which suggested that sensory scores were closely related to the demand-driven or need-based acceptability of a product rather than
palatability alone. Hence it is likely that the prophylactic/functional value of sweet potato noodles might become critical factors
in its sensory rating and this was evident in the present study especially in the case of guar gum supplemented noodles. The effect of
guar seed our in improving the sensory and cooking quality
respectively of bread and maize/oat spaghetti has been reported
(Padalino, Mastromatteo, Sepielli, & Del Nobile, 2011; Previtali
et al., 2014). Chillo et al. (2008) attributed the quality improvement of spaghetti fortied with hydrocolloids, to their ability to
slow down the diffusion of the amylose molecules from the inner
part of the spaghetti strand to the surface resulting in a less sticky
cooked product, which was acceptable.

4. Conclusion
NUTRIOSE FB06 fortication to sweet potato our (SPF) and
starch (SPS) signicantly reduced the starch digestibility and glycaemic index of noodles. Guar gum at 0.5% in SPS noodles and
1.0% in SPF noodles complemented the effect of NUTRIOSE in
enhancing the resistant starch content and further reducing the
GI of noodles. High protein retention in the whey protein fortied
noodles coupled with the low cooking loss made the products well
acceptable with high sensory scores for appearance, avor and
mouth feel. Slow and progressive starch digestibility indicates
the prospective potential of the products as low glycaemic foods.

Acknowledgments
The study was funded through a Research grant from the Indian
Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India (IRIS ID No. 200906980). The authors also acknowledge the facilities provided by
the Director, ICAR-CTCRI, Thiruvananthapuram, India and the help
extended by Dr. J. Sreekumar, Senior Scientist (Agricultural
Statistics), ICAR-CTCRI in the statistical analysis.

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