Nutritionally Important Starch Fractions and Sensory Acceptability of Oats Incorporated Pongal – A Traditional Indian Food

Abstract

Oats are being promoted as health food ingredient for its functional attributes due to high β-glucan content. There is immense scope for utilization of oats, in formulation of high fiber food products that confer health benefits, however its utilization in Indian cuisine is limited. This study aimed to explore the use of oats as a functional ingredient in an Indian traditional food and study its sensory acceptability and starch digestibility profile. The product was formulated by replacing rice with oats at a level of 20% and evaluated for sensory acceptability and starch fractions of nutritional importance through controlled enzymatic digestion involving enzymes such as amyloglucosidase, invertase and pancreatin. In addition, estimation of rapidly available glucose and starch digestibility index was carried out. Sensory analysis revealed that the product was acceptable, with no noticeable differences observed between control pongal (CP) and oats integrated pongal (OP) in terms of color, appearance, texture, aroma, mouthfeel, after taste, and overall acceptability. The addition of oats led to a substantial decrease in total starch and resistant starch content, whereas rapidly digestible starch (RDS), slowly digestible starch (SDS) and rapidly available glucose (RAG) increased significantly. The starch digestibility index of OP was 31, which was significantly greater than the starch digestibility index of CP, which was 16. These findings suggest that incorporation of oats helps in value addition of pongal in terms of enhanced digestibility with increased soluble dietary fiber content that aids in healthy gut microbiome.