There is particular focus on polysaccharides in plant cell walls, pectins from vegetables and β-glucans and arabinoxylans from grain. Work has also been done on starch.
More fibre in food
Increasing the intake of dietary fibre among the general population is a goal of nutritional policy. The most effective way of increasing this intake will be to include ingredients that are beneficial to health in foods that are already consumed to a significant extent. Results of the project indicate that it is possible to include substantial quantities of wholemeal oat and barley in bread without the technical quality being significantly reduced.
It is extremely useful to be able to measure the amount of fibre in whole grain barley and wholemeal barley flour, and a rapid method has been developed for analysing the quantity of fibre in barley with the aid of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. This method could replace the more time consuming methods currently in use.
It has been shown in the project that both arabinoxylans and β-glucans from barley have specific effects in the body, as food for beneficial intestinal bacteria for example. We have also worked on understanding what chemical structure of pectin is immunologically active.
The project is contributing basic research and knowledge to several EU and Nordic projects.
