Formulation and nutritional evaluation of multigrain ready-to-eat snack mix from minor cereals.

A ready-to-eat nutritious snack mix was developed by blending the flour from popped millets and legumes with sugar and other ingredients in the optimized proportion of 30:20:27:23. The nutrient composition, functional properties, sensory qualities and storage characteristics of the product were analysed. The product contained protein 14.0 ± 0.07 g, fat 14.5 ± 0.72 g, carbohydrates 59.0 ± 1.20 g and dietary fiber 6.3 ± 0.04 g per 100 g of mix. The sensory evaluation of the product revealed that color, taste, texture, aroma, appearance and overall quality were in acceptable range with mean score of 6.8. Shelf life of the product was about 90 days under normal conditions when stored in low density polypropylene pouches. The work indicates the potential of using coarse cereals and legumes for preparation of nutritious food for societal program.

Finger millet (Ragi, Eleusine coracana L.): a review of its nutritional properties, processing, and plausible health benefits.

Finger millet or ragi is one of the ancient millets in India (2300 BC), and this review focuses on its antiquity, consumption, nutrient composition, processing, and health benefits. Of all the cereals and millets, finger millet has the highest amount of calcium (344mg%) and potassium (408mg%). It has higher dietary fiber, minerals, and sulfur containing amino acids compared to white rice, the current major staple in India. Despite finger millet's rich nutrient profile, recent studies indicate lower consumption of millets in general by urban Indians. Finger millet is processed by milling, malting, fermentation, popping, and decortication. Noodles, vermicilli, pasta, Indian sweet (halwa) mixes, papads, soups, and bakery products from finger millet are also emerging. In vitro and in vivo (animal) studies indicated the blood glucose lowering, cholesterol lowering, antiulcerative, wound healing properties, etc., of finger millet. However, appropriate intervention or randomized clinical trials are lacking on these health effects. Glycemic index (GI) studies on finger millet preparations indicate low to high values, but most of the studies were conducted with outdated methodology. Hence, appropriate GI testing of finger millet preparations and short- and long-term human intervention trials may be helpful to establish evidence-based health benefits.

Glycaemic index of three Indian rice varieties.

Three commonly consumed Indian rice varieties (Sona Masuri, Ponni and Surti Kolam) were tested for their glycaemic index (GI). Healthy volunteers were recruited and after an overnight fast were given a 50 g available carbohydrate portion of glucose (reference food) or different varieties of cooked rice (test foods) on separate occasions. The fasting as well as postprandial capillary blood glucose response was determined over 2 h, and the incremental area under the curve (IAUC) was calculated. The GI was calculated as the IAUC of the test food/IAUC of the reference food (glucose) × 100. The differences between the GI values for Sona Masuri (72.0 ± 4.5), Ponni (70.2 ± 3.6) and Surti Kolam (77.0 ± 4.0) rice varieties were non-significant (p = 0.606) and are all classified as high GI varieties of rice. There is an urgent need to study the GI of other commonly consumed rice varieties and to develop rice of a lower GI value.

Physical, chemical and nutritional characteristics of premature-processed and matured green legumes.

Premature green legumes are good sources of nutraceuticals and antioxidants and are consumed as snacks as well as vegetables. They are seasonal and have limited shelf-life. Efforts are provided to prepare shelf-stable green legumes to extend their availability throughout the year. Green legumes from chick pea or Bengal gram (Cicer arietinum) and field bean (Dolichos lablab) have been processed to enhance their shelf-life, and determined their nutritional, physico-chemical and nutraceutical qualities. The shelf stable green legumes (SSGL) show higher water absorption capacity compared to matured dry legumes (MDL). The total colour change in the processed/dried SSGL and MDL samples increased significantly (p ≤ 0.05) compared to the freshly harvested green samples. The carotenoid content of Bengal gram and field bean SSGLs are 8.0 and 3.2 mg/100 g, and chlorophyll contents are 12.5 and 0.5 mg/100 g, respectively, which are in negligible quantities in matured legumes; the corresponding polyphenol contents are 197.8 and 153.1 mg/100 g. These results indicate that SSGLs possess potential antioxidant activity.

Nutritional and sensory profile of two Indian rice varieties with different degrees of polishing.

Traditional hand-pounded rice has been replaced today with highly polished white rice in the Asian Indian diets. The study aimed to evaluate the nutritional as well as the sensory differences between the brown (0% polish) and the rice milled to different degrees of polish (2.3, 4.4 and 8.0%). Bapatla and Uma (red pigmented) varieties in both raw and parboiled forms were used. The protein, fat, dietary fibre, γ-oryzanol, polyphenols, vitamin E, total antioxidant activity and free radical scavenging abilities of the brown rice decreased while the available carbohydrates increased with polishing. Sensory attributes of the cooked rice samples (whiteness, grain intactness, fluffiness, firmness, stickiness, chewiness and the cooked rice aroma) were evaluated by trained panelists. Scores for branny taste and chewiness decreased with polishing. On the whole, brown rice of both the varieties was readily accepted by the well-informed sensory trained panelists.

Quality characteristics of biscuits prepared from finger millet seed coat based composite flour.

Finger millet seed coat is an edible material and contains good proportion of dietary fibre, minerals and phytochemicals. The seed coat matter (SCM) forms a by-product of millet milling, malting and decortication industries and can be utilised as composite flour in biscuit preparation. The SCM from native, malted and hydrothermally treated millet contained 9.5-12% protein, 2.6-3.7% fat and 40-48% dietary fibre, besides 3-5% polyphenols and 700-860mg/100g of calcium. The biscuits prepared using the composite flour were of crisp texture and exhibited breaking strength of 1480-1690g compared to control biscuits (1560g). The biscuits were of mild grey colour (ΔE=40-50) and exhibited higher protein, dietary fibre and calcium contents. The sensory evaluation of the biscuits indicated that 10% of SCM from native and hydrothermally processed millet and 20% from malted millet could be used in composite biscuit flour.

Physico-chemical characteristics, nutritional quality and shelf-life of pearl millet based extrusion cooked supplementary foods.

The process variables for extrusion cooking of pearl millet were standardized and some of the physicochemical characteristics of the millet extrudates and also the nutritional qualities of the millet and legume-based extruded supplementary foods were determined. The millet grits less than 355 microm in size, equilibrated to 18+/-1% moisture content, extruded at 150+/-5 degrees C temperature and at 200+/-10 rpm of the barrel of a twin-screw extruder yielded the extrudates of 1.75+/-0.21 expansion ratio and 7.5+/-1.5 kg breaking strength. The cold and cooked paste viscosity, the melt energy and also the carbohydrate digestibility of the extrudates indicated that the products were pre-cooked and were of ready-to-eat nature. The millet was blended with grain legumes (30%) and also with defatted soy (15%) separately and extruded to prepare ready-to-eat nutritious foods suitable as food supplements to children and mothers. The foods based on the millet and legumes and also the millet and soy contained 14.7% and 16.0% protein with 2.0 and 2.1 protein efficiency ratio values, respectively. The shelf-life of the foods was about 6 months in different flexible pouches at ambient storage conditions. The study showed that applications of extrusion cooking technology to pearl millet have promise for preparation of diversified and value-added food products from the millet.

Nutritional and carbohydrate characteristics of wheat and chickpea based weaning foods.

Weaning foods based on malted wheat and chickpea (MWF), popped wheat and chickpea (PWF), and roller dried wheat and chickpea (RWF) were prepared. The PWF and RWF were blended with 5% barley malt flour to formulate low bulk popped (PWFM) and roller dried (RWFM) foods. The amino acid contents, carbohydrate fractionation, pasting characteristics and in vivo carbohydrate digestibility of the foods were determined. Also the liver characteristics of weanling rats fed on the foods were assessed. The foods contained 17.0-18.3% protein, 1.7-3.7% fat, 67.1-67.5% available carbohydrates and 11.1-12.0% dietary fibre. The lysine content of the food proteins ranged from 4.2 to 4.6%. No appreciable difference in the amino acid contents among the different foods and also between the low bulk popped and roller dried foods (PWFM, RWFM) and their high bulk counterparts (PWF and RWF) were observed. The moisture content of the fresh livers of the animals fed on low bulk foods, namely MWF (60.9%), PWFM (63.9%), and RWFM (65.7%), were lower than the high bulk PWF (67.1%) and RWF (70.7%). A similar trend was recorded with respect to fresh and dry weight of the livers. The fractionation of the food carbohydrates by Sepharose CL 2B gel indicated partial hydrolysis of amylopectin fraction and increase in amylose fraction of starch of the MWF, PWFM and RWFM. The PWF also showed a prominent intermediate fraction. The Brabender viscograms of the RWF and PWF exhibited considerable cold paste viscosity, revealing the pregelatinised nature of the starch in these food, but the viscosities of MWF, PWFM and RWFM at 10% slurry concentration were too low to be recorded by the instrument throughout the heating and cooling cycle, probably due to the hydrolysis of their starch by the malt amylases. These observations show that blending about 5% cereal malt with high bulk weaning foods has advantages with respect to reduction in the dietary bulk by partial hydrolysis of carbohydrates, but does not alter their amino acid content significantly.

Biological evaluation for protein quality of supplementary foods based on popped cereals and legumes suitable for feeding rural mothers and children in India.

Eight different formulations of supplementary foods (FS) based on popped cereals (wheat, ragi, bajra and sorghum) and legumes (soy and bengalgram) were prepared. Four of the FS were produced with cereals, soy flour (SF) and bengalgram (BG) dhal and the other four were prepared with combinations of cereals and SF. These blends were evaluated for food efficiency ratio (FER), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and net protein utilization (NPU) using growing albino rats. Skim milk powder (SMP, standard reference protein) was used in the control diet. In general the FER (0.28 to 0.34), PER (2.7 to 2.9) and NPU (62 to 68) results of the FS were not significantly (p > 0.05) different among the FS groups or compared with FER (0.36), PER (3.0) and NPU (73.5) of the control SMP. It is evident from the results that all eight FS were nutritionally and biologically as good as SMP with regard to proximate composition, PER and NPU.

Acceptability of supplementary foods based on popped cereals and legumes suitable for rural mothers and children.

Eight types of supplementary foods based on popped cereals (wheat, ragi, bajra and sorghum) blended with legumes (soy and bengal gram) and fortified with essential vitamins and minerals were developed on a pilot plant scale. Four of the supplements were prepared with cereals, soy flour (SF) and bengal gram (BG) dhal and the other four were prepared with combinations of cereals and SF. These blends were mixed with jaggery (obtained by boiling juice out of sugarcane) syrup and pressed into compact form. One hundred gram portions of these foods provided 370+/-20 kilocalories and 11+/-1 g protein. Moisture, crude protein, total carbohydrates, total lipids, ash, dietary fiber and energy contents, of all the developed supplements were within the ranges prescribed by the Indian Standards Institute for processed weaning foods and could satisfactorily meet one-third of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of these nutrients per day for preschool children. Organoleptic evaluation and feeding trials revealed that the foods were well accepted by rural mothers and children.

Glycemic response to malted, popped and roller dried wheat-legume based foods in normal subjects.

A blend consisting of 75% malted and debranned wheat flour, toasted flours of 10% green gram, 5% Bengal gram, 5% moth bean and 5% skim milk powder, consumed by seven healthy adult subjects in the form of 'chapati' (unleavened bread), showed higher blood glucose response after 30 min, as compared with blends of similar composition prepared by adopting popping or roller drying technique. No significant differences were observed in blood glucose response between the three foods at any other time intervals up to 120 min. However, significantly slower response to the popped product was observed in peak blood glucose, area under the curve (AUC) and slope from 0 time to maximal increase in glycemia. All the three foods were digested fast, as blood glucose reached fasting levels after 120 min.

Physical and nutritional qualities of extruded weaning foods containing sorghum, pearl millet, or finger millet blended with mung beans and nonfat dried milk.

Sorghum, pearl millet, and finger millet flours (60% of each) were blended with toasted mung bean flour (30%) and nonfat dry milk (10%) and extruded (Brabender single screw) to make precooked, ready-to-eat, weaning foods. The extruded foods had high cold paste viscosity, but their cooked paste viscosity was lower than that of the respective blends. Chemical scores of the extruded foods were 78 for sorghum, 80 for pearl millet, and 96 for finger millet. Protein digestibility corrected amino acid scores (PD-CAS) were similar for pearl millet (68%) and finger millet (69%); PD-CAS for sorghum was 57%. Total dietary fiber content of the foods ranged from 7.6 to 10.1%, with the soluble dietary fiber content of the foods being about 10% higher than that of the corresponding blends. Extrusion enhanced the in vitro protein digestibility of foods, but no marked difference occurred in the in vitro carbohydrate digestibility among the unprocessed blends and the extruded foods. The net protein ratio, protein efficiency ratio, and biological values were higher for the finger millet food than for the pearl millet food, probably because of the higher lysine content of the finger millet protein.

Elaboration of amylase activity and changes in paste viscosity of some common Indian legumes during germination.

The effect of germination upto 120 hours on malting loss, amylase activity and viscosity of nine common Indian legumes was investigated. The amylase activity increased on progressive germination in all legumes, the increase being particularly high for green gram, horse gram, moth bean and black gram. Malted samples had lower cooked paste viscosity than native ones. Samples with high amylase activity exhibited proportionately lower viscosity. Maximum reduction in viscosity was observed in green gram, followed by moth bean, horse gram, black gram and cowpea within 48 hours of germination. Malting losses ranged between 12 to 27 percent over a period of 48 hours in all legumes. Germination beyond 48 hours resulted in considerably higher malting losses without much effect on viscosity.

Microbiological evaluation of malted wheat, chickpea, and weaning food based on them.

The changes in the microbial load during steeping, germination, drying, kilning, and debranning of wheat and chickpea were studied, and the microflora of a weaning food formulation based on 48-hours germinated wheat and 24-hours germinated chickpea was also assayed. Total bacterial count (TBC) of control wheat and chickpea were 5 x 10(4)/g and 110 x 10(4)/g, respectively. The microbial load increased 9000-fold in wheat on 48-hours germination of wheat and 870-fold on 24-hours of germination of chickpea. The microbial counts decreased substantially on drying, kilning, and debranning, and the TBC of wheat and chickpea malt flours were 3 x 10(4)/g and 9 x 10(4)/g, respectively. Some of the spoilage microflora of health significance, viz. coliforms, E. coli, Streptococci, Staphylococci, yeast, and mould were assayed in raw materials and in the weaning foods based on malting (MWF), popping (PWF), and roller drying (RDF) of wheat and chickpea. The levels of these spoilage microflora were considerably high in raw materials and also in uncooked weaning foods, the load being high in MWF, moderate in PWF and low in RDF. Cooking the weaning foods slurry for 5 minutes at about 95 degrees C reduced the TBC and other spoilage microflora to safe limits, and counts were well within the prescribed values for the cereal-based weaning foods.