Opening a New Chapter in Health: How 70% Oat Beta-Glucan Revolutionizes Functional Foods
Structure of oat beta glucan
Oats are mainly composed of husk and endosperm, and the endosperm is wrapped by pericarp, seed coat, aleurone layer and subaleurone layer. Oat beta glucanis mainly located in the endosperm cell wall of its grains, and there are also a large number of aggregates in the subaleurone layer. Oat beta glucan is a high molecular, unbranched, linear and viscous polysaccharide formed by β-D-pyranose glucose connected by 30% β-(1→3) Glycosidic bonds and 70% β-(1→4) glycosidic bonds. The relative molecular mass ranges from 4.4*10^4 to 3.0*10^8.
Research and analysis found that high-purity beta glucan is neutral, white and tasteless, and the solution becomes viscous after dissolving in water. The molecular structure is stable, insoluble in organic solvents such as ethanol and acetone, almost unaffected by external pH values, and has strong water holding capacity.
Health care effects:
It has the ability to improve intestinal flora and promote small intestinal peristalsis
It has the effect of lowering blood sugar and blood lipids
It has the effect of enhancing the body's immunity
It has the effect of preventing and treating dental caries
It has the effect of promoting wound healing and helping body tissue repair and regeneration
Functional applications in the food industry:
- Application in flour products
The addition of oat flour not only enriches the nutritional content of bread, but also improves the dough's kneading resistance. The unique water holding capacity of oat β-glucan also prolongs the shelf life of bread.
Studies have shown that when the amount of oat dietary fiber added is 6%, the sensory properties and various indicators of the cake are most ideal. Zhai Aihua and others found in the research and development of oatmeal nutritious bread that when the addition of oatmeal powder was 15%, the addition of emulsifier was 1.0%, and the addition of oxidant was 0.3%, the protein content of the produced oatmeal nutritious bread was 1.57 times that of ordinary bread, and the dietary fiber content was 9.64 times that of ordinary bread.
- Application in meat products
Improve water holding capacity and oil holding capacity, improve sensory flavor
Adding oatmeal glue (oatmeal β-glucan) to minced meat found that the water holding capacity and oil holding capacity of minced meat were improved to a certain extent. In addition, the sensory properties of minced meat were also improved, with good flavor, fresh and juicy, and elastic. The best ratio is: fat-to-lean meat ratio 3:7, oatmeal glue 2.5g, starch 2.5g and carrageenan 2.0g.
In the experiment, it was found that the honeycomb shape of oatmeal beta glucan is the main reason for its good adsorption, water holding capacity and oil holding capacity. When added to meat products, the unique mesh structure supports the meat tissue and reduces its water loss during processing. In addition, oat beta glucan also has a fat taste and can be added to meat products as a fat substitute. For example, when added to sausages, it can not only reduce the proportion of fat added, but also reduce the amount of starch used, making the sausage have a better flavor and taste.
- Application in dairy products:
Thickening and viscosity increase, stable in acidic environment, and improve the sensory properties of the product. When oat beta glucan was added to yogurt for testing, it was found that the yogurt with added oat beta glucan had a smooth texture, delicate taste and rich milk flavor, and had good sensory properties. Oat beta glucan is a viscous polysaccharide, so when added to yogurt, it increases its viscosity and has a thickening effect. Yogurt contains a large number of probiotics that are beneficial to intestinal health, and the overall environment is acidic, but oat beta glucan is stable in yogurt, and the water holding capacity and viscosity content are almost unchanged during the shelf life.
Oat beta glucan can also be used as a fermentation substrate for probiotics such as bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria. Jia Jianbo used oats and skimmed milk powder as the main raw materials to make oat bio-milk containing active ingredients and with health functions. The content of oat beta glucan in the product was 180 mg/L, and the number of viable bacteria was 10^11/mI.
Can be used as a thickener and stabilizer in the production of ice cream. Oat β-glucan was mixed with guar gum and CMC to make a composite stabilizer, and added to ice cream in different proportions to study its effects on the viscosity, expansion rate, anti-melting and sensory properties of ice cream. The experimental results show that after adding 0.2% oat beta glucan to low-fat ice cream, the ice cream tastes better, has stronger anti-melting properties, and the expansion rate and viscosity of the ice cream are also significantly improved.
- Other applications
Oat beta glucan is also widely used in other areas of the food industry, such as oat fiber chewable tablets, oat cakes, avena lactone tofu, matsutake oat nutritious meal, oat vinegar, compound fruit and vegetable oat meat jerky, oat instant noodles, oat cheese, oat porridge and oat nutritious health wine, etc.