Dietary fibre enrichment in foods for targeted health benefits: relating physical and physiological properties of hydrocolloids

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Hydrocolloids (mostly soluble, non-starch polysaccharides) are multi-functional natural food components or added ingredients. They deliver technological functionality to foods in the form of physical attributes like viscosity, gelation, and colloidal stability through their macromolecular behaviour. At the same time, these hydrocolloids act as dietary fibre and deliver a multitude of health benefits, including increased satiety, blood glucose attenuation after consumption of a meal, reduction in blood cholesterol levels through bile acid binding, fermentation in the colon to produce short-chain fatty acids, reduced incidence of colorectal cancers, and many other health benefits. In Canada, on average we only consume half of the recommended amount of dietary fibre (soluble and insoluble), so supplementation of beneficial fibres into foods is an important and viable health-promoting strategy as it is unlikely that enhanced consumption of whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits (our principal natural dietary sources) can make up this deficiency in the modern diet.