Thanks to its nutritional and mechanical properties, chia seed mucilage is becoming increasingly popular in the food industry as a small biomolecule. The mechanical properties of an ingredient are a key element for food appreciation during chewing. Therefore, with this study, we explore for the first time the structural changes that chia seed mucilage undergoes when treated with α-amylase, the most abundant enzyme in human saliva. First, rheological time-sweep tests were performed on samples with different enzyme and constant chia mucilage concentrations. Then, the effect of increasing the chia mucilage concentration at a constant enzyme content was investigated. The results show that structural changes occur after enzyme treatment. Rheological measurements show a thickening of the material with an increase in the elastic modulus depending on the concentrations of α-amylase and chia used. This effect is attributed to the release and aggregation of insoluble fibrous aggregates that naturally form the mucilage after the cleavage of the α-1,4-glucoside bond between the α-D-glucopyranose residue and the second β-D-xylopyranose residue by α-amylase. Thus, our data suggest an α-amylase-mediated restructuring of the chia mucilage network that could have implications for the commercial processing of this material

Effect of α-Amylase on the Structure of Chia Seed Mucilage

Piazza, Francesco;Donati, Ivan;Sacco, Pasquale
2022-01-01

Abstract

Thanks to its nutritional and mechanical properties, chia seed mucilage is becoming increasingly popular in the food industry as a small biomolecule. The mechanical properties of an ingredient are a key element for food appreciation during chewing. Therefore, with this study, we explore for the first time the structural changes that chia seed mucilage undergoes when treated with α-amylase, the most abundant enzyme in human saliva. First, rheological time-sweep tests were performed on samples with different enzyme and constant chia mucilage concentrations. Then, the effect of increasing the chia mucilage concentration at a constant enzyme content was investigated. The results show that structural changes occur after enzyme treatment. Rheological measurements show a thickening of the material with an increase in the elastic modulus depending on the concentrations of α-amylase and chia used. This effect is attributed to the release and aggregation of insoluble fibrous aggregates that naturally form the mucilage after the cleavage of the α-1,4-glucoside bond between the α-D-glucopyranose residue and the second β-D-xylopyranose residue by α-amylase. Thus, our data suggest an α-amylase-mediated restructuring of the chia mucilage network that could have implications for the commercial processing of this material
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11368/3031614
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