Effect of the temperature on the degradation of β-glucan promoted by iron(II)

Publication date: October 2013 Source:Bioactive Carbohydrates and Dietary Fibre, Volume 2, Issue 2 Author(s): Audrey M. Faure , Raphael Knüsel , Laura Nyström Cereal β-glucan is a soluble dietary fiber and a versatile functional food ingredient, which is known to be degraded during food processing non-enzymatically. The degradation of β-glucan induced by iron(II) was investigated at different temperatures (25, 50 and 100°C) in pure β-glucan solution. Increasing the temperature of storage enhanced the formation of hydroxyl radical induced by iron(II), hence causing more intense β-glucan degradation. β-Glucan was able to reduce iron(III) into iron(II) allowing the formation of hydroxyl radical to be maintained up to 24h. Moreover, the addition of ascorbic acid accelerated the degradation of β-glucan to the same extent as heating at 100°C. Thus, both heating and the presence of a reducing agent enhanced the deleterious effect of iron(II) on β-glucan in an aqueous system. These factors need to be considered when processing functional foods that are enriched with β-glucan. Graphical abstract
Source: Bioactive Carbohydrates and Dietary Fibre - Category: Food Science Source Type: research