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Strategies to minimize the challenges attributed to oat and barley cereal beta-glucan utilization
T. VASANTHAN (1). (1) University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

The demand for cereal beta-glucan (BG) continues to grow due to its health benefits that are attributed to its ability to form aqueous micelle networks. FDA, Health Canada & EFSA approved health claims exist for BG. Development of BG enriched foods with physiologically active levels of BG are actively underway in many food industries. Since BG content is low in oat & barley grains, crop breeding efforts have been focusing to develop high BG varieties. Also, several dry & wet grain processing technologies have been developed to produce BG concentrates for food use. However, oat/barley ingredients such as flakes & flours, as well as BG enriched flour, bran & fiber concentrates produced by simple dry processing technologies are the primary eligible sources of BG approved for health claims. Cereal BG is an excellent hydrocolloid that binds to lots of water during food formulation, creating considerable viscosity & present issues such as sticking to machinery, slowing gluten development in wheat dough, etc. Enzymes (beta-glucanase, cellulase, etc) can make BG less effective by depolymerizing the molecule into smaller poly/oligo saccharides. These enzymes occur naturally in grains, and are also present in food ingredients such as malt flour, fruits, etc. Molecular fragmentation of BG is also possible in high shear processing (extrusion) of BG enriched foods. De-polymerized or fragmented BG molecules would show suppressed ability to form aqueous micelle network, and thus compromise health benefits. Furthermore, studies have shown that BG in foods can become insoluble during freezing storage, and then cannot form into the required micelle network in the intestinal tract that is important for health benefits. The presentation will focus on food processing & formulation strategies that will mitigate the above challenges to successfully produce BG enriched functional foods.

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