Addition of mushroom powder to pasta enhances the antioxidant content and decreases the starch digestibility of pasta

While durum wheat semolina is traditionally used, recent research has focussed on bioactive ingredients to improve physical and nutritional qualities of pasta (Foschia, Peressini, Sensidoni, Brennan, & Brennan, 2015). Much of this interest is related to the manipulation of glycaemic index (GI). GI is a measure of the rate at which carbohydrates in foods are converted to sugar components and how these foods affect postprandial blood glucose responses (Foschia et al., 2015). Clinical research has shown a correlation between low GI diets in individuals with diabetes and the risk of hyperlipidaemia and cardiovascular diseases (Dona, Pages, Gilbert, & Kuchel, 2010). Researchers have proposed that highly digestible (high GI) starchy foods affect satiety and are associated with increased tendency to snack between meals (Dona et al., 2010). Conversely, foods that are considered to be low-GI have been shown to prolonging satiety and improve insulin sensitivity (Chillo, Ranawana, Pratt, & Henry, 2011).

Highlights

• Mushroom powder is a good source of protein, fat and fibre compared to semolina.

• Addition of mushroom powder decreased the starch digestibility of pasta.

• Incorporate of mushroom powder enhanced the antioxidant contents of pasta.

Pasta is an important staple food widely consumed around the world that is considered to be low GI due to the slow rate of starch degradation following ingestion (Foschia et al., 2015). The main component of pasta is starch, and many studies have used dietary fibre and protein to enhance the nutritional quality of pasta. These additional ingredients have included wheat bran (Sobota, Rzedzicki, Zarzycki, & Kuzawinska, 2015), inulin, β-glucan, guar gum or bamboo fibre (Chillo et al., 2011, Foschia et al., 2015) fish material (Parvathy, Bindu, & Joshy, 2017) and other functional ingredients (Jan et al., 2017, Martínez et al., 2017).

Recently, a study reported the effects of addition of mushroom powder on the nutritional properties, predictive in vitro glycaemic response and antioxidant potential of durum wheat pasta. Addition of the mushroom powder enriched the pasta as a source of protein, and soluble and insoluble dietary fibre compared with durum wheat semolina. The GI of pasta containing 5%, 10% and 15% mushroom powder were evaluated using an in vitro model system. A mutual inhibition system between the degree of starch gelatinisation and antioxidant capacity of the pasta samples was observed.

Results were encouraging, as they have revealed that mushroom powder-supplemented pastas could be created containing health-promoting bioactive compounds. Digestion in vitro highlighted that addition of mushroom powders (white button, shiitake and porcini mushrooms) to durum wheat semolina could reduce the glycaemic response to the pastas. This work illustrates the potential for using mushroom powders to modulate GI and increase the antioxidant/ bioactive contents. At this stage, it would be interesting to undertake further studies of mushroom powder-supplemented pasta using in vivo starch digestion analysis and develop more functional pastas containing bioactive substances derived from mushrooms to provide high-quality protein, dietary fibre and polyunsaturated fatty acids for consumers.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814618307787?via%3Dihub