Effect of processing treatments on digestibility and physicochemical properties of ready-to- cook breakfast mixes.

Increasing metabolic disorders and changing lifestyles have created an increased demand
for healthy convenience food, especially breakfast. The study aims to identify an
ideal processing method to formulate a ready-to-
cook
savory wheat (Dalia) porridge
with reduced starch digestibility and enriched protein and fiber content. Pressure
cooking (WP), autoclaving (WA), drum drying (WD), flaking (WF), and toasting (WT)
were adopted for instantization. The energy distribution was as per the guidelines
of the American Diabetes Association. Processing resulted in reduced cooking time,
changes in color parameters, increased water absorption, and solubility. Complete
gelatinization of starch was observed in all samples except WA and WT. Resistant
starch content increased in all samples (8.95–16.70
g/100 g) except WD and WT. The
estimated glycemic Index (eGI) ranged from 65.8 to 54.8, with maximum eGI shown
by WD and minimum by WA. Increase in vitro protein digestibility 5%–10%
was
observed.
All the porridge showed good sensory characteristics and acceptability.
Practical applications
Breakfast is considered as a crucial meal of the day in a healthy lifestyle. Skipping or
consuming a nutritionally imbalanced hunger sufficing breakfasts has been increasing
due to changing work cultures and time lack for cooking which is attributed to increasing
metabolic diseases. Thus, the development of a healthy convenience breakfast has
acquired great attention. In this study, the interaction between protein, fiber, starch,
and fat has been utilized in formulating a low GI ready-to-
cook
(RTC) breakfast mix
with the energy distribution as suggested by the American Diabetic Association for
diabetes. The RTC breakfast mix with modulated eGI will cater to the needs of diabetic,
obese, and elderly population. The product will have good compliance, as it is
prepared with the staple ingredients and GI is modulated using natural ingredients
and can be scaled up with minimum operating steps for commercial application as
there are very few products in the market.