Functional and physicochemical properties of milled and microfluidized bulgur and chickpea brans

Abstract

Dietary fiber plays a crucial role in human diet due to their health-promoting effects. Cereal brans are widely used for fiber enrichment of bakery products; however, their high phytic acid content, mostly localized in the aleurone layer, lowers the nutritional value of the end-product. Therefore, the functional and physicochemical properties of two aleurone-free brans, bulgur and chickpea brans, were investigated as alternative fiber sources. Furthermore, effect of particle size reduction by means of milling and the microfluidization on these properties were determined. The results indicated that these two by-products of milling industry are valuable fiber sources with high amounts of phytochemicals and low phytic acid content. The applied microfluidization process enhanced physicochemical properties along with their functional properties, altered the ratio between insoluble and soluble fiber, dramatically increased phenolic compounds content and antioxidant activity; however, more importantly, it showed that it is possible to degrade phytic acid with microfluidization process.