Traditional and novel foods from indigenous flours; Nutritional quality, glycemic response, and potential use in food industry

Abstract

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Starchy plant sources traditionally utilized for preparing breakfast foods are currently vastly Received: June 23, 2015 underutilized. The present study investigated the proximate composition, glycemic index (GI), Revised: N ovem ber 25, 2015 and factors affecting the GI of breakfast foods such as roti, pittu, porridge, and a novel food, A ccepted: N ovem ber 25, 2015 muffin made with flour from some such underutilized plant sources. The glycemic responses were estimated according to FAO/WHO guidelines. Non-diabetic apparently healthy individuals aged 22-30 years (n = 10) participated in the study. The crude protein in foods ranged from 1.2 to 8.0g/100g fresh weight (FW) basis. Muffin made with Caryota urens flour had the highest fat content with other foods having fat above 6g/100g FW except for C. urens porridge. Insoluble (IDF) and soluble (SDF) dietary fiber contents in foods were low, ranging from 1.2 to 5.7 g/100 g FW and 0.8 to 3.0 g/100 g FW, respectively. Roti made with C. urens, Cycas circinalis, and pittu made with Valeria copallifera were categorized as low GI foods (relative to white bread), with corresponding GI ± standard error of the mean values of 57 ± 4,66 ± 6, and 67 ± 7, respectively. C. circinalis pittu elicited a m edium GI (72 ± 4), whereas C. urens porridge and muffin elicited a high GI (92 ± 9 and 128 ± 11), respectively. If not counteracted by factors such as high fiber or protein, wet processing elicited higher glycemic responses. The starch granular structures and molecular weight distribution patterns correlated with corresponding GI values obtained in this study. The data prove that the traditional flour sources elicit health benefits and could be utilized in food preparation as a substitute for wheat and rice flour.