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Kristensen, Kaja (2024) Effects of formulation and processing on in vitro protein digestibility in model noodle systems. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

PDF (PhD Thesis Corrections) (Thesis - as examined) - Repository staff only until 13 December 2026. Subsequently available to Anyone - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader Available under Licence Creative Commons Attribution. Download (5MB)

Abstract

Factors such as dietary fibres and proteins as well as compact food structures have been linked to slower starch digestion, which has been industrially utilised to produce wheat-based food products with reduced glycaemic indices. However, less is known regarding how reformulation and processing influence protein digestibility in wheat-based food products such as noodles. The main purpose of this research project was to investigate the link between reformulation- and processing-induced changes to the wheat microstructure and in vitro proteolysis, by inclusion of low acyl gellan gum (a soluble dietary fibre) at two hydration conditions during noodle processing.

Investigation of possible process-structure-digestibility relationships was performed by analysing the structural arrangements in fresh (raw) model noodle systems at different length scales in combination with static in vitro digestion. Inclusion of low acyl gellan gum at an adjusted hydration improved the final proteolysis extent based on mass balance approaches. This was associated with the formation of a weaker and less extensible gluten network during the noodle-making processes, rendering the dietary protein substrates more accessible to trypsin. Competition for hydration between low acyl gellan gum and the wheat flour constituents could have influenced hydrogen bond formation between the wheat (gluten) proteins and wheat starch, thereby possibly affecting the connections between the wheat flour constituents. The findings in this research project demonstrated that changes to the structural arrangements of the wheat flour constituents at different length scales can be used to modulate in vitro proteolysis. This could provide the direction for using different dietary fibres to modify protein digestibility in wheat-based systems to meet specific health/nutritional requirements. The use of different dietary fibres and processing conditions should be further studied through a mechanistic understanding of possible process-structure-digestibility relationships, as the structural arrangements at one length scale may be more dominant in establishing the digestive behaviour.

Item Type:	Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors:	Gould, Joanne Salter, Andrew Adams, Gary Foster, Timothy
Keywords:	noodles, protein digestibility, in vitreo digestion
Subjects:	Q Science > QP Physiology > QP1 Physiology (General) including influence of the environment T Technology > TP Chemical technology > TP 368 Food processing and manufacture
Faculties/Schools:	UK Campuses > Faculty of Science > School of Biosciences
Item ID:	79765
Depositing User:	Kristensen, Kaja
Date Deposited:	24 Nov 2025 09:46
Last Modified:	24 Nov 2025 09:46
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/79765

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