The effect of di-potassium phosphate and sodium chloride on the pasting properties of cereal flours -

Abstract

Phosphorus is the second most abundant mineral in the body making up 1percent of the total human body weight. In addition to its main function in bone and teeth formation, phosphorous is an essential element used by proteins for cellular and tissue renewal, regeneration and repair. It assists the body in producing adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which contributes to the control of food intake. Preload phosphorus intake was reported to decrease subsequent food intake. It is well documented that cereal flours and starches contain traces of phosphorus; however, the form of this phosphorus in these staple foods renders it inaccessible or non-bioavailable in the human body. Accordingly, in this study we have explored the effect of added phosphorus in the form of di-potassium phosphate on the pasting properties of wheat, corn, and rice flours. For this purpose, di-potassium phosphate was added in different percentages (0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2percent) to the various cereal flours. In addition, sodium chloride was added in different percentages (1 and 2percent) to explore the synergistic effect of the salts on the pasting properties. Consequently, the pasting properties of these flours were assessed using a starch pasting cell attached to a TA Instruments DHR3 rheometer following AACC procedures for flours. The obtained results show that although the pasting properties of the flours followed a trend when the salts were added, these observed changes were not significant at 95percent confidence interval when compared to samples with no salts added. It is worthy to note that the identified trends were dependent on the concentrations of both di-potassium phosphate and sodium chloride.