Effect of seed treatments on the chemical composition of two amaranth species: oil,sugars, fibres,minerals and vitamins

The effects of seed treatments, including cooking, popping, germination and flour air classification on several components of Amaranthus caudatus and A. cruentus seeds, including oil, sugars, fibre, minerals and vitamins were studied. The lipid, crude and dietary fibre, ash, and sugar contents were 71, 43, 140, 30 and 18 g kg^?1 in raw A. caudatus and 85, 39, 134, 40 and 22 g kg^?1 in raw A. cruentus seeds, respectively. Sucrose was the dominant sugar in the raw and thermal treated seeds of both species, while glucose and galactose were the dominant ones in the high protein and the germinated seed flours. Phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and calcium were the dominant minerals in the raw seeds of both species. Air classification increased the content of minerals by more than 35% while thermal treatments did not affect their content and germination increased the calcium and zinc contents. The ascorbic acid contents were 0.030 and 0.023 g kg^?1 sample in raw A. caudatus and A. cruentus seeds, respectively. All the treatments reduced the ascorbic acid content, with a high effect for the air classification and the germinated seeds dried at 90 °C. The levels of vitamin B complex, including niacin, niacinamide, pyridoxine and riboflavin were increased in the high protein flour fraction (protein contents of these fractions of A. caudatus and A. cruentus were 263.9 g kg^?1 and 246.6 g kg^?1, respectively) and decreased in the thermal treated flours. Germination mostly increased the amounts of those vitamins while drying reduced their amounts. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effect of seed treatments on the chemical composition and properties of two amaranth species: starch and protein

The seeds of two Amaranth species were studied. The starch contents were 543 and 623 g kg^?1 while crude protein contents were 154 and 169 g kg^?1 for Amaranthus caudatus and Amaranthus cruentus seeds, respectively. The effect of several treatments, including cooking, popping and germination and flour air classification on the protein and starch properties were studied. Air classification decreased the starch content and increased the protein content, while heating increased the protein but did not affect the starch content. Germination decreased both starch and protein contents. Amylose content was increased by air classification and heating, but was not affected by germination. It was found that all treatments increased the starch swelling power and reduced the falling number. The resistant starch content was increased in the high protein flour (HPF) fraction and germinated flour compared with the raw flour, while its content decreased in the heat treated seed flours. These processes also affected the starch gelatinization temperature and peak viscosity. The thermal properties of the starch flour were not affected by air classification while gelatinization energy was decreased significantly (by 52.0 and 90.0% and by 70.0 and 95.0%) in cooked and popped A caudatus and A cruentus seed flours, respectively. The gelatinization energy was highest in germinated seeds dried at 90 °C with values of 2.67 and 3.87 J g^?1. Air classification reduced the level of all protein fractions. Thermal treatment decreased the water‐soluble fraction (albumins + globulins) and alcohol‐soluble fraction (prolamins) in both species. The levels of all fractions except the water‐soluble fraction (albumins + globulins) were reduced significantly in both species by germination, which mainly increased the amount of aspartic acid, serine and alanine, while the amounts of threonine, arginine and tyrosine decreased in both species. The polypeptide bands of the HPF in both species were unchanged compared with the raw seed flours, but more intensive coloured bands were observed. Thermal treatments eliminated major and minor bands above 35.0 KDa in both species. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Seed treatments affect functional and antinutritional properties of amaranth flours

The effects of seed treatments, including cooking, popping germination and flour air classification, on the functional properties and antinutritional factors of Amaranthus caudatus and Amaranthus cruentus seeds were studied. Thermal treatments increased the water absorption with a maximum value of 5.1 and 6.3 g g⁻¹ in flour of popped seeds of both species. Generally, fat absorption increased after the treatments. Air classification and germination followed by drying at low temperature increased the foam stability of the flours, while thermal treatment and germination followed by drying at higher temperatures reduced the foam stability. All treatments except air classification decreased the emulsion stability. Also, all treatments except germination followed by drying at 30 °C increased the flour dispersibility, whereas the soluble nitrogen index was increased in the germinated seed flours and decreased in thermal treated seeds and air‐classified flours. Air classification increased the contents of phenolic compounds and phytate and decreased the contents of enzyme inhibitors, whereas the thermal treatments reduced the contents of phenolic compounds, phytate and enzyme inhibitors to a greater extent for cooking than for popping. Germination followed by drying reduced the level of phenolic compounds, phytate and enzyme inhibitors. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Amaranth Flour Blends and Fractions for Baking Applications

Selected Amaranthus eruentus ecotypes from different places of origin were used to prepare baking products. Amylograph, alveograph and farinograph data of mixtures of white wheat flour with whole amaranth grain flour from raw, toasted and popped amaranth seeds, as well as with higher protein fractions obtained by air classification, presented clear differences with respect to wheat flour. Six selected amaranth lines displayed different behaviors according to their origin and the seeds, previous treatment. Results indicate the opportunity of employing wheat-amaranth mixtures in programs developed to improve the diet of the population's marginal sectors. Enriched cookies and "bolillos" (French bread) with NPR values of 3.63 and 4.35, respectively, slightly higher than casein (3.0 and 4.0). are especially recommended for this purpose.     

Nutritional quality of storage proteins during germination of Indian bean (Dolichos lablab. var. lignosus) seeds

The dry Indian bean seed composed of starch is the major component (33%) and protein accounted for 25% of dry weight. The ability of germination to increase the nutritional quality of storage proteins was studied by germinating the Indian bean seeds for 0, 8, 16, 24 and 32 h and evaluated the nutritional quality through an in vitro protein digestibility (IVPD), protein efficiency ratio (PER), apparent and true digestibility. The IVPD of raw Indian bean seeds by pepsin alone was 60.12% and the digestibility by pepsin and trypsin together improved to 64.24%. The in vitro digestibility by both processes increased appreciably with germination and marked increase was noticed in the early stage of germination. The PER values followed the same pattern as the value of weight gain of rats fed with diets containing raw and germinated Indian bean. The lowest PER values were observed with raw bean diet. However, the value increased in rats fed with diets of Indian bean germinated for different intervals of time, reaching comparable PER values with the group maintained on casein diet. The true and apparent nitrogen digestibility of raw bean low being only 82 and 72%, respectively observed with casein diet. Diets with germinated bean protein showed a marked increase in both parameters, although the values were still less than that displayed by the casein fed rats. Germination is a simple biochemical enrichment tool and significantly improves palatability, digestibility and the nutritive utilisation of proteins in Indian bean seeds.     

Potential of Amaranthus cruentus BRS Alegria in the production of flour,starch and protein concentrate: chemical,thermal and rheological characterization

BACKGROUND: Amaranth is a little‐known culture in Brazilian agriculture. Amaranthus cruentus BRS Alegria was the first cultivar recommended by Embrapa for the soil of the Brazilian scrubland. In order to evaluate the potential of this species in the production of flour, starch and protein concentrates, the latter products were obtained from A. cruentus BRS Alegria seeds, characterized and compared with the products obtained from the A. caudatus species cultivated in its soil of origin. RESULTS: The seeds of A. cruentus BRS Alegria furnished high‐purity starch and flour with significant content of starch, proteins, and lipids. The starch and flour of this species presented higher gelatinization temperatures and formed stronger gels upon cooling compared with those obtained from the A. caudatus species. This is due to their greater amylose content and a difference in the composition of the more important fatty acids, such as stearic, oleic and linoleic acids, which indicates that they have greater heat stability. Sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and differential scanning calorimetry revealed the presence of albumins, globulins, glutelins and prolamins in the protein concentrate, which was obtained as a byproduct of starch production. CONCLUSION: Amaranthus cruentus BRS Alegria has potential application in the production of flour, starch and protein concentrates, with interesting characteristics for use as food ingredients. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Protein Quality of African Oil Bean Seed (Pentaclethra machrophylla)

A study was made of the protein quality of raw, heat processed and fermented African oil bean seed (Pentaclethra macrophylla). Rats given fermented seeds consumed more food than rats given heat-treated seeds which, in turn, consumed more food than rats given the raw seeds. Fermentation and heat treatment improved apparent digestibility, feed conversion efficiency (FCE) and protein efficiency ratio (PER). In general, rats given the various forms of the oil seed lost weight, resulting in a negative PER and FCE. There was, however, a consistent improvement in the performance of rats when samples were heat-treated and better improvement when fermented. The probable reason for the poor performance is discussed.     

EVALUATION OF THE NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF NONTOXIC KERNEL FLOUR FROM JATROPHA CURCAS L. IN RATS

ABSTRACT

The origin of Jatropha curcas L. is in Central America, probably Mexico, although it is also distributed in South America, Africa and Asia. In Mexico, it grows as nontoxic and toxic J. curcas genotypes. In this work, the protein quality including protein efficiency ratio (PER), net protein ratio (NPR) and true digestibility (TD) of nontoxic genotype defatted flour was assessed using Wistar rats. The probed diets contained flour (3), flour‐lysine, 1% (4), flour‐phytase, 500 FTU (5) and two control diets: nitrogen‐free (1) and casein (2). The rats were fed for 28 days. The PER (1.37, 1.77 and 1.61) and NPR (1.80, 2.29 and 2.12) obtained values for diets (3.4 and 5) were lower than those obtained for casein (2.07 and 2.46), respectively. No statistical differences were found in TD.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Jatropha curcas defatted flour may be used in the food industry for the development of diets for human and animal consumption. Besides achieving fortification of foods that are made from wheat, which has a low protein content, with the addition of Jatropha meal, these foods will improve the protein quality of many food products.     

Chemical composition and nutritional attributes of selected newly developed lines of soybean (Glycine max (L) Merr)

The chemical composition and nutritional properties of raw, autoclaved and boiled samples of three promising advanced breeding lines of soybean (TG_x 923 ? 2^EN, TG_x 1019 ? 2^EN and TG_x 1497 ? 1^D), part of a larger collection evaluated in agronomic field trials in Nigeria, were investigated. Protein quality was evaluated using weanling albino rats fed diets which were formulated to supply 10% protein using soybean samples, with casein as a control. Raw seeds contained 35.6–42.4% crude protein, 8.9–9.8 mg iron per 100 g, 8.62–18.21 mg trypsin inhibitor g^?1 and 2.25–6.15 mg phytic acid g^?1 seed flour. TG_x 923 ? 2^EN possessed higher crude protein contents and lower amounts of trypsin inhibitor, polyphenol and phytic acid compared with TG_x 1019 ? 2^EN or TG_x 1497 ? 1^D. Boiling proved more effective than autoclaving for reducing the levels of antinutrients and improving the protein quality of the beans, as shown by the higher values for weight gain, protein efficiency ratio (PER), net protein ratio (NPR) and true digestibility (TD) of boiled samples. There were no significant (p > 0.05) differences between the values obtained for PER, NPR and TD of diets containing boiled samples of TG_x 923 ? 2^EN and casein, indicating the nutritional superiority of this soybean line compared with TG_x 1019 ? 2^EN and TG_x 1497 ? 1^D. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry     

Amaranthus Cruentus: Milling Characteristics, Distribution of Nutrients within Seed Components, and the Effects of Temperature on Nutritional Quality

Distribution of nutrients within Amaranthus cruentus seed components and the effects of dry heat on nutritional quality were investigated. Histological, chemical, and nutritional methods were used to characterize the effects of successive milling of the seed by a modified barley pearler. In general, nutrients were more highly concentrated in the seed coat-embryo fraction. This fraction contained 2.3–2.6 times as much nitrogen, fat, fiber and ash; 2.4–3 times the quantity of thiamin, riboflavin and niacin; and 1.4–2.5 times the concentration of several mineral elements as did the original, intact seed. Hot-air popping resulted in a PER of 1.7 and an apparent nitrogen digestibility of 77% which were not significantly different from those of the control seed.     

Studies on preparation,popping and functional properties of bulgur wheat

Wheat was steeped to 36% moisture and agitated for 2 min in sand heated to 170 °C. This dry heat bulgur was comparable to bulgur prepared by steam treatment. The dry heat bulgur of 14% moisture content was popped in hot (230 °C) sand medium. The expansion ratio of popped bulgur was 2.1. Some of the functional properties of popped bulgur flour were compared with native, 48 h malted and roller dried wheat flours. Water absorption index was highest for roller dried followed by popped and malted wheat, whereas water solubility index was highest for malted followed by roller dried and popped wheat. Roller dried wheat exhibited higher cold paste viscosity (360 BU) than popped (30 BU) wheat. Popped wheat had a peak viscosity of 300 BU. The viscogram of malted wheat was typical of cereal flours when the enzyme activity of malt was inhibited. The gel permeation chromatograms of popped and roller dried wheat indicated thermal degradation of starch during popping and roller drying. The in vitro carbohydrate digestibility of popped wheat was higher than roller dried and malted samples. The scanning electron microscopic examination of native and popped bulgur revealed that the endosperm of bulgur wheat was a homogenous mass containing gelatinized starch whereas that of popped bulgur was made up of thin layers of popped starch with irregular air spaces.     

Comparative studies of some local oil seeds and seed cakes

A survey on the chemical constituents (protein, fat, carbohydrates, ash, fibre, calcium, phosphorus, iron) of 4 seeds and their cakes was done. These seeds are safflower seed (Carthamus tinctorius variety Giza 1), sunflower seeds (Helianthus annuus variety Giza 1), linseeds (Linum usitatissimum variety Giza 4) and imported rape seeds (Brassica napus Erglue). Caloric value of these seeds and seed cakes was calculated, PER, NPR and NPU were determined. No great variation was found with respect to the moisture content. The 4 seeds are rich in protein and fat. The ash content varies from (5.11 ± 0.26)% to (3.17 ± 0.13)%. The fiber content was low in both safflower and sunflower seeds and higher in both linseeds and rape seeds. The caloric values of the different seeds were very close. The seeds were found to be rich in phosphorus and low in calcium and contain considerable amounts of iron. The average PER values were 1.51, 1.61, 1.59, 1.84 and 2.50 for safflower seed cake, sunflower seed cake, linseed cake, rape seed cake and casein diet respectively. The average NPR was 3.11, 2.84, 2.84, 3.05 and 3.53 for safflower seed cake, sunflower seed cake, linseed cake, rape seed cake and casein respectively. The NPU values of the seed meals were 48.5, 49.3, 47.4 and 93.6 compared with 67.8 for casein. Using the different criteria (PER, NPR and NPU), it was clear that the protein quality of sunflower seed is very close to that of the linseed. Comparing the protein quality of safflower seed with those of both sunflower and linseed, NPU was in the same range, while PER was somewhat lower and NPR was higher than those of safflower and sunflower seed.     

Biological response to different diets of fermented and unfermented mixtures of flour and cereal brans

The objective of this study was to biologically evaluate eight mixtures of flour and brans prepared with non‐conventional foods popularly denominated ‘multimixtures’, which differed from each other in terms of type of bran (wheat or rice), presence or absence of cassava leaf powder and submission or non‐submission to a solid‐state fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae for 6 h/30 °C, utilising female Wistar/UFPEL rats. Biological indices determined were food efficiency ratio (FER), protein efficiency ratio (PER), net protein efficiency ratio (NPR) and in vivo digestibility. Liver, spleen and kidney specimens were collected at the end of the experiment. In vivo digestibility of diets containing multimixtures formulated with wheat bran was superior to diets containing rice bran, presenting values from 76.5% to 82.8%, which corresponds to up to 85% of casein digestibility. The results allowed the conclusion that fermentation tended to improve food efficiency, but did not influence in vivo digestibility.     

Development and nutritional quality evaluation of weaning foods based on malted, popped and roller dried wheat and chickpea

Optimal conditions for malting wheat and chickpea for preparation of weaning foods were standardized and malted flours from 48 h germinated wheat and 24 h germinated chickpea were blended to prepare malted weaning food. Wheat was dry-heat-parboiled (bulgurized), popped in hot sand and blended with popped chickpea flour to prepare popped weaning food. Mildly toasted and debranned wheat and dehusked chickpea flours were mixed and the blend was roller-dried for preparation of roller dried weaning food. the formulations had 60% wheat, 30% chickpea, 5% skim milk powder and 5% sucrose and contained about 16% protein. the cooked paste viscosity (dietary bulk) of malted food, popped food with malt, and roller dried food with malt was significantly lower than popped and roller dried foods at all comparable slurry concentrations. the energy density of malted and malt-added food slurries at spoon feeding consistency was 4.2 KJg⁻¹. PER (2.91), biological value (88.3) and true digestibility (87.5) values of malted food were higher than that of the other formulations.     

Popping of amaranth grain (Amaranthus caudatus) and its effect on the functional,nutritional and sensory properties

The popping of amarunth grain (Amaranthus caudatus var INIAP‐Alegría) by hot air processing was studied. A household corn popper adapted to control heating and airflow was used. The effects of temperature, load, airflow and moisture on the popping capacity and on the functional properties, nutritional quality, crude protein content, lysine content and sensory texture of the poppei grain were investigate. The yield, expansion volume and density of popped grain showed that the optimal conditions for the popping process were 240 °C, 22 g load, 0.013 m³ s^?1 airflow and 12% grain moisture. The proportion of popped grain with butterfly shape was highest (p < 0.05) at 220 °C, 22 g load, 0.014 m³ s^?1 airflow and 14% grain moisture. The functional and physic‐chemical properties of popped grain obtained by various treatments showed completely gelatinised starch. The total, available and resistant starch contents were similar among the different treatments. The enzymatic degradation of starch was 65% within 5–15 min of incubation with α‐amylase. The crude protein content was almost 15% for all the treatments, while the total lysine content was 45.2–48.0 mg g^?1 protein. The in vitro availability of protein of popped grain obtained at 0.013 m³ s^?1 airflow and 14% grain moisture was above 84%. The highest available lysine value was found for popped grain obtained at 0.014 m³ s^?1 airflow, 18–22 g load and 12–14% grain moisture. However, six of the eight treatments had available lysine contents that varied between 41.2 and 47.4 mg g^?1 protein. Sensory analyses showed that the treatments with the highest popping capacity produced grains with high crunch and expansion capacities. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry     

In vitro multienzyme digestibility of protein of six varieties of African yam bean flours

The in vitro multienzyme protein digestibilities of the flours of six varieties of African yam bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa), made from both whole seeds and dehulled seeds were investigated. The multienzyme system consisted of trypsin, chymotrypsin and peptidase. Digestibilities were determined for a 10 min digestion period. Both dehulling and heat treatment improved digestibility. Comparison of flours from raw whole seeds with those from dehulled seeds showed that digestibility was better in the latter, with an increase of 6.78%. Heat-treated whole seed flcurs gave a digestibility increase of 6.06% compared with raw flours whereas in the dehulled samples the digestibility increase of heat-treated flours over raw was 5.19%. Heat-treated dehulled seeds were better, with a digestibility increase of 5.90% over the heat-treated whole seed flours. No significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed in the digestibilities among the whole seed flours but significant differences were observed in the dehulled seed flours.     

Processing, Nutritional Quality and Sensory Evaluation of Amaranth Enriched Corn Tortilla

Whole flour air classification protein and starchy fractions of raw amaranth seeds were employed in mixtures with commercial lime-treated corn flour (MINSA) or corn meal, as in the traditional method, to prepare tortillas. Protein efficiency ratio (PER) and net protein rate (NPR), were improved with no changes in the sensory characteristics. Lysine content decreased slightly in the processed samples. Improvement in the tortilla's protein (9.2 to 12%), fat (1.8 to 4.9%), phosphorus (231–370 mg%), and linoleic acid (41–56.8%) content was achieved. Each substituted flour demonstrated a unique sensory pattern, and amaranth flour and fractions showed no significant differences in the substitutions, tested principally for appearance, aroma, texture, flavour and aftertaste.     

Nutritional Evaluation of Cereal–Cheese Whey Mixtures

The chemical composition, amino acid content, PER, and digestibility of dehydrated sweet cheese whey, wheat flour, wheat bran, and lime-treated corn flour (nixtamal, used for making tortillas), as well as of 21 cereal-cheese whey mixtures were determined. The cheese whey was composed of 12% protein and 74% lactose. Diets containing a total of 8% protein were formulated with the cereal-cheese whey mixtures. The 50:50 (% protein) cereal-whey mixtures had the highest adjusted modified PERs, representing an increase over the cereals alone of 324% for the corn flour, 215% for wheat flour, and 177% for wheat flour, and 177% for wheat bran. The 50:50 (% protein) wheat bran mixture had the largest adjusted modified PER at 2.33 ± 0.13 (mean ± SEM) and the 50:50 wheat flour mixture, the smallest at 1.48 ± 0.21. Although the apparent digestibility was reduced from 10–14% for the latter two 50:50 cereal-whey mixtures compared to the cereals alone, this was not reflected in the PER. It was concluded that the nutritive value of all the cereals tested significantly increased with the addition of 155 25% or more (by weight) of dehydrated cheese whey.     

Effect of whole amaranth flour on bread properties and nutritive value

This study investigated the effect of replacing wheat flour by whole Amaranthus cruentus flour (up to 40 g/100 g) to evaluate its potential utility as a nutritious breadmaking ingredient. The incorporation of amaranth flour significantly increased protein, lipid, ash, dietary fibre and mineral contents. Breads with amaranth have significantly higher amounts of phytates and lower myo-inositol phosphates, which could predict low mineral bioavailability at high levels of substitution (30–40 g/100 g). An increase in crumb hardness and elasticity was observed, and tristimulus colour values were significantly affected when the amaranth concentration was raised. Mineral contents, both micro- and macroelements, were increased significantly by the wheat flour substitution. Whole amaranth flour could be used as a partial replacement for wheat flour in bread formulations, increasing the product’s nutritional value and raising dietary fibre, mineral and protein levels, with a significant slight depreciation in bread quality when used in proportions between 10 and 20 g/100 g. Thus, the inclusion of amaranth flour could be limited to a maximum proportion of 20 g/100 g, thereby maintaining both product quality as well as the nutritional benefit of this ingredient.     

Effect of semolina replacement with a raw:popped amaranth flour blend on cooking quality and texture of pasta

The replacement of semolina (SEM) with raw:popped (90:10) amaranth flour blend (AFB) in pasta making at 25, 50, 75, and 100 g/100 g levels (flour basis, 14 g of water/100 g) was carried out to evaluate the effects on cooking quality and texture of the supplemented pasta samples. Significant differences on cooking quality characteristics and texture of the pasta samples were observed. The pasta solid loss increased, weight gain and firmness decreased as the AFB level increased. The semolina pasta showed the lowest solid loss (7 g/100 g) and the highest weight gain (188.3 g/100 g) and firmness (1.49 N), whereas the amaranth blend pasta was the softer (around half of the firmness of semolina pasta) and lost the higher amount of solids (11.5 g/100 g). The raw and popped AFB was suitable for increasing the nutritional quality through dietary fiber and high quality protein and even to obtain gluten-free pasta with acceptable cooking quality (solid loss of 3.5 g/100 g higher than that considered as acceptable for semolina pasta). The amaranth blend used in this study enables the partial or total replacement of wheat semolina in pastas with acceptable cooking quality and texture.