Chemical, Starch Digestibility and Sensory Characteristics of Durum Wheat/Unripe Whole Banana Flour Blends for Spaghetti Formulation

Abstract

Excess weight and obesity are serious public health problems, which should be addressed through encouraging the consumption of foods with high amount of low digestible carbohydrates. The objective of this study was to put together spaghetti that blends unripe banana whole flour (UBWF) and durum wheat of different levels and to evaluate their chemical composition, starch digestibility and sensory characteristics. Spaghetti with 15%, 30%, and 45% of UBWF and a control spaghetti (100% durum wheat flour) were put together. The protein content decreased (10.42% to 7.74%) as the UBWF level was increased in the composite, while the amount of ash (0.87% to 1.54%) and total starch (70.24% to 73.71%) increased. Spaghetti with 15% and 45% of UBWF had similar available starch content. The addition of UBWF increased the resistant starch content from 1.98% to 10.91%, and consequently the indigestible starch fraction (14.00% to 27.29%). Spaghetti with 30% of UBWF had good consumer acceptability and was ranked higher than the control sample.