LWT - Food Science and Technology 59 (2014) 605e611

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LWT - Food Science and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lwt

Optimization and characterization of wheat bran modied by in situ

enhanced CO2 blasting extrusion
Daoqi Long a, Fayin Ye a, Guohua Zhao a, b, *
a
b

College of Food Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, People's Republic of China
Key Laboratory of Food Processing and Technology of Chongqing, Chongqing 400715, People's Republic of China

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 23 March 2014
Received in revised form
7 July 2014
Accepted 12 July 2014
Available online 19 July 2014

An in situ enhanced CO2 blasting extrusion was applied to increase soluble dietary ber (SDF) in wheat
bran. Wheat bran was mixed with a CO2-producing reagent prior to extrusion. The total addition of two
reagents was 30 g/100 g with a NaHCO3/C6H8O7 ratio of 1:1 (w/w). With the aid of response surface
methodology, the maximum SDF fraction in the blasting extrudate (11.64 g/100 g) could be obtained
when the feed contained 24 g/100 g moisture and the extrusion was operated with barrel temperatures
of 65, 105, 135, and 185
C and screw speed at 192 rpm. This was signicantly greater than that in the
untreated wheat bran (2.54 g/100 g) and the reference extrudate without reagents (4.37 g/100 g).
Monosaccharide analysis indicated that the increase of SDF was mainly resulted from the redistribution
of insoluble dietary ber to SDF. In addition, the blasting extrudate presented highly improved hydrating
properties.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Blasting extrusion
Soluble dietary ber
Wheat bran
Response surface methodology
Physicochemical property

1. Introduction
As known to all, diets are closely associated with human health
and dietary ber (DF) has an irreplaceable role to decrease the risks
of diseases such as cancer, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular
diseases. DF is conventionally classied into two categories: insoluble dietary ber (IDF) and soluble dietary ber (SDF). IDF is known
to improve gut peristalsis, while SDF stimulates colonic fermentation, reduces postprandial blood glucose and preprandial cholesterol levels (Elleuch et al., 2011). SDF commonly appears to be more
effective than IDF in health aspects (Jing & Chi, 2013). By-products
of plant food processing are always rich sources of DF. However,
most of them consist of a large amount of IDF, which hinder their
applications in food industry. Increasing SDF content in these materials, therefore, is valuable.
Wheat bran, a main by-product from wheat our processing, is a
rich source of DF. Considerable research indicated that wheat bran

Abbreviations: BBD, BoxeBehnken design; DF, dietary ber; IDF, insoluble dietary; ORC, oil retention capacity; RSM, response surface methodology; SC, swelling
capacity; SDF, soluble dietary fiber; SEM, scanning electron micrographs; TDF, total
dietary fiber; UA, uronic acid; WBP, wheat bran power; WRC, water retention
capacity.
* Corresponding author. College of Food Science, Southwest University,
Chongqing 400715, People's Republic of China. Tel.: 86 23 68 25 03 74; fax: 86
68 25 19 47.
E-mail address: zhaogh@swu.edu.cn (G. Zhao).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2014.07.017
0023-6438/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

is benecial to decrease the risks of colonic cancer, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular diseases (Prckler et al., 2014). However,
wheat bran consisted of a large amount of IDF (35 g/100 g) and a
relatively small amount of SDF (1.5 g/100 g) (Esposito et al., 2005).
This fact resulted in a deteriorated consumer acceptance of food
products incorporated with wheat bran, especially in mouthfeel
and texture. Therefore, the modication of wheat bran focused on
increasing its SDF fraction would increase its application feasibility
in various food systems.
Extrusion is one of the most commonly applied food processing
technique in food industry. Numerous studies have shown the
thermal and chemical process improved certain physicochemical
properties, especially SDF content of ber-rich products, such as oat
bran (Zhang, Bai, & Zhang, 2011), soybean residue (Jing & Chi, 2013)

ndez-Garca, Martnez-Flores, & Moralesand lemon residues (Me

nchez, 2013). However, extrusion was proved to increase the
Sa
SDF fraction in wheat bran with a limited amount (Aoe et al., 1989;
Gualberto, Bergman, Kazemzadeh, & Weber, 1997; Wang,
Klopfenstein, & Ponte, 1993). The temperature and pressure in
the extruder barrel might be responsible for this, and reasonably
high values in either temperature or pressure always accompanied
high SDF fraction in the extrudate. According to Singh, Gamlath,
and Wakeling (2007), an extra high temperature (200
C) is
harmful for the nutritional and sensory qualities of the extrudate.
Alternatively, an extra high pressure in the extruder barrel was
exploited via various measures without negative effects on the

606

D. Long et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 59 (2014) 605e611

extrudate. Extra high pressure was successfully obtained by directly

injecting pressurized CO2 into the extruder barrel; therefore,
improved extrusion was achieved (Chen, Ye, Yin, & Zhang, 2014;
Jeong & Toledo, 2004; Singkhornart, Edou-ondo, & Ryu, 2014;
Wang & Ryu, 2013). Regrettably, this method requires expensive
equipment to introduce pressurized CO2 into the extruder barrel. To
overcome this drawback, an economical and effective extrusion
method, in situ enhanced CO2 blasting extrusion, was developed in
our laboratory (Li, Long, Peng, Ming, & Zhao, 2012). This method
was achieved by blending sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and citric
acid (C6H8O7) with materials before extrusion. The pressure was
notably increased by online generation of CO2 in the barrel during
extrusion. The in situ enhanced CO2 blasting extrusion has the capacity to increase SDF fraction in okara by more than eightfold
(from 2.3 g/100 g to 21.35 g/100 g). To the best of our knowledge,
the effects of in situ enhanced CO2 blasting extrusion on wheat bran
lack investigation. With the aim of signicantly increasing SDF
fraction in wheat bran, the operating parameters of in situ
enhanced CO2 blasting extrusion were optimized by response surface methodology (RSM) and the extrudate was physicochemically
characterized.
2. Materials and methods

barrel zone was set as a variable in the following RSM experiment.

Once the extruder was stabilized, the extrudate was collected and
placed on trays to cool for 10 min at room temperature. The
reference extrudate was produced at the same parameters optimized for the blasting extrudate. The extrudate was dried in an
oven at a temperature of 60
C until the extrudate attained a
moisture content of approximately 5 g/100 g. The extrudate was
ground and packaged as done for raw wheat bran.
2.4. Experimental design
The parameters for blasting extrusion were optimized with the
aid of RSM (BoxeBehnken design). The three independent variables
and their variation levels considered in this study were die temperature (X1; 165, 175, and 185
C), moisture (X2; 20, 25, and 30 g/
100 g dry base), and screw speed (X3; 180, 190, and 200 rpm). SDF
fraction in the extrudate was set as the response. Each experiment
was performed in triplicate. Regression analysis was performed for
the experimental data and tted to the empirical second-order
polynomial model, as shown in the following equation:

Y a0

3
X
i1

a i Xi

3
X
i1

aii Xi2

3
3
X
X

aij Xi Xj ;

(1)

i1 ji1

2.1. Materials and chemicals

Wheat bran was purchased from a local market. After hot air
drying at 60
C for 18 h to obtain a moisture content of approximately 5 g/100 g, wheat bran was milled by a high-speed grinder
(Dade Pharmaceuticals Co., Wenzhou, China) to pass through a 60mesh sieve. The resulting wheat bran powder (WBP) was then
packaged in a polyethylene bag prior to usage. NaHCO3 and C6H8O7
of analytical grade were purchased from Kelong Reagent Chemical
Co. (Chengdu, China). Monosaccharide standards, heat-stable aamylase (A3306), porcine pepsin (P7000), and pancreatin (P7545)
were obtained from Sigma Chemicals Co. (St. Louis, MO, USA).
2.2. Feed preparation for extrusion
WBP (400 g) was rst wetted with C6H8O7 solution to attain a
C6H8O7 concentration of 0 ge20 g/100 g WBP. The amount of water
added in the C6H8O7 solution was based on the moisture content of
WBP to attain the required levels that ranged from 20 g/100 g to
30 g/100 g. After being wetted, the blend was allowed to equilibrate
at 25
C for 20 min. Before being fed into the extruder, the equilibrate blend was further mixed with NaHCO3 powder (0 ge20 g/
100 g WBP) to produce the feed. The proportion of NaHCO3 and
C6H8O7 was determined as 1:1 (w/w) by preliminary experiments.
An optimal concentration of CO2-producing reagent was established by preliminary experiments and the xed concentration of
CO2-producing reagent was used in the following optimization. For
reference extrusion, the WBP was wetted indirectly by adding
water to attain the required levels without adding NaHCO3 and
C6H8O7.
2.3. Extrusion process
The previously prepared feed was extruded using a laboratoryscale twin-screw extruder (SYSLG30-LV, Saibainuo Scientic Co.,
Jinan, China) with a screw diameter (D) of 57 mm and a length to
diameter (L/D) ratio of 24:1. The barrel of the extruder consisted of
four zones, each 128 mm in length. A round-shaped die head with a
diameter of 3.5 mm was used. The feed rate was maintained constant at 200 g/min. The rst three zones of the barrel were operated
at 65, 105, and 135
C, respectively. Die temperature of the fourth

where Y represents the response variables, a0 is a constant, ai, aii,

and aij are the linear, quadratic, and interactive coefcients,
respectively, and Xi and Xj are the levels of the independent variables. Finally, three conrmatory experiments were conducted to
validate the obtained model.
2.5. Proximate analysis
The proximate compositions of untreated and extruded wheat
bran powders with or without CO2-producing reagent were
analyzed with the following methods. Total nitrogen and crude fat
were analyzed based on the AOAC methods numbered 954.01 and
920.39, respectively. Reduction sugar was determined using the
3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid method (Miller, 1959), using glucose as a
standard. Total starch and resistant starch were determined based
on the method previously applied in this laboratory (Liu, Ming, Li, &
Zhao, 2012). Total dietary ber (TDF), SDF, and IDF were determined
by using an enzymaticegravimetric method (Asp, Johansson,
Hallmer, & Siljestroem, 1983). The results of TDF, SDF, and IDF for
blasting extruded wheat bran were calibrated using a conversion
factor to eliminate errors. The inevitable formation of a nonnegligible level of sodium citrate is a result of the consequent
production of CO2 and water. This conversion factor was dened as
a ratio of the dry mass of wheat bran in the feed to the dry mass of
the extrudate, provided that the ratio solely depended on the
addition of CO2-producing reagent.
For monosaccharide analysis, the parameters for hydrolysis and
acetylation were performed following the methods of Zhao, Kan, Li,
and Chen (2005) on a gas chromatograph (GC-2010, Shimadzu,
Tokyo, Japan) equipped with an OV-225 capillary column
(30 m  0.22 mm; lm thickness, 0.25 mm). Uronic acid (UA) content
was determined following Scott's method with a-D-galacturonic acid
as a standard and 3,5-dimethylphenol as the reagent (Scott, 1979).
2.6. Color and morphological analysis
The samples were measured using a HunterLab LabScan XE
(Hunter Associates Laboratory, Inc., Reston, VA, USA) to record color
parameters of lightness (L), redness (a), and yellowness (b). The

D. Long et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 59 (2014) 605e611

untreated WBP was used as a reference. The total color change (DE)
was calculated as follows:

DE

q
L  L0 2 b  b0 2 a  a0 2 ;

607

Table 1
Soluble dietary fiber fraction of extruded wheat bran as a function of the
CO2-producing reagent addition.a

(2)

where L0, a0, and b0 are the L, a, and b values of the reference
sample, which, here, is the untreated WBP. The morphology of the
samples was recorded with a scanning electron microscope (S3000N, Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan).
2.7. Determination of water retention capacity (WRC), oil retention
capacity (ORC), and swelling capacity (SC)

Reagent additionb (g/100 g)

SDF (g/100 g)

Untreated
0
10
15
20
25
30
35
40

2.54
3.31
4.39
5.54
5.44
6.36
7.67
7.79
7.89

0.17h
0.16g
0.16f
0.19e
0.23e
0.19d
0.30c
0.17c
0.26c

ceh

Values with different letters are significantly different (p < 0.05).

Each value was calibrated with the convert factor and represented as
mean SD (n 3).
b
The CO2-producing reagent is an equivalent mixture of NaHCO3 and
C6H8O7 and the addition was presented as the amount of the reagent per
100 g wheat bran.
a

The water retention capacity (WRC) was determined based on the

method reported by Robertson et al. (2000). In detail, 125 mg (db)
(w1) of the tested sample was rst suspended in 7.5 mL of water with
the aid of a vortex mixer (QL-866, Qilinbeier Instrument
Manufacturing Ltd., Haimen, China) at room temperature and then
allowed to stand for 1 h. The suspension was subjected to centrifugation at 3000  g for 20 min. The supernatant was discarded and the
residue was weighed (w2). WRC was calculated as (w2-w1)/w1 and
expressed as g water per g of dry mass. To determine oil retention
capacity (ORC), the procedure for WRC was repeated, substituting
water with rape seed oil. ORC was expressed as g rape seed oil
retained per g of dry mass. To determine swelling capacity (SC), the
sample (250 mg) was weighed into a 10-mL cylinder and 5 mL
distilled water containing 0.02% sodium azide was added. Then, the
sample was stirred gently to eliminate trapped air bubbles and left on
a level surface at room temperature overnight to allow the sample to
totally swell. Finally, the volume (mL) occupied by the sample was
recorded and SC was expressed as mL per g of dry sample.

3.2. Response surface optimization of extrusion parameters

The RSM was used to optimize the CO2 blasting extrusion of
WBP. The operating parameters (die temperature, moisture, and
screw speed) were served as the variables and SDF fraction were
served as the response. The design matrix of the variables in the
uncoded units and the response data of the RSM experiment are
shown in Table 2. By employing multiple regression analysis, the
predicted response Y for the SDF fraction can be obtained by using
the following second-order polynomial equation:

Y 10:39 1:37X1  0:44X2 0:15X3  0:15X1 X2

0:015X1 X3 5  103 X2 X3 0:25X12  1:14X22
 0:46X32 ;

2.8. Statistical analysis

All analyses were conducted in triplicate, and the results were
expressed as the means standard deviation. The experimental
design and RSM were employed using the Design-Expert Version 7
software. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS
Version 19.0 software. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis
of variance (ANOVA) followed by Duncan's test. The signicance
level was set at p value <0.05.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effects of CO2-producing reagent on SDF fraction in wheat bran
Prior to the optimization of the operating parameters (temperature, moisture, and screw speed) of extrusion, the effects of CO2producing reagent on SDF fraction in the extrudate were investigated (Table 1). To reect the inuence of the addition of CO2-producing reagent, which varied from 0 g/100 g to 40 g/100 g, other
parameters were xed as follows according to the preliminary experiments: moisture of 30 g/100 g, screw speed of 170 rpm, and
barrel temperatures of 65, 105, 135, and 165
C. The SDF fraction in
the reference extrudate (3.31 g/100 g) was signicantly higher than
that in the untreated feed (2.54 g/100 g). With the addition of CO2producing reagent, the extrudate presented higher values of SDF
fraction than that without CO2-producing reagent. The SDF fraction
in extrudate signicantly increased from 4.39 g/100 g to 7.67 g/100 g
with the addition of CO2-producing reagent in the feed varying from
10 g/100 g to 30 g/100 g. No signicant changes in SDF fraction were
observed with a further increase in the addition of CO2-producing
reagent. Therefore, the addition of CO2-producing reagent in the
feed was set to 30 g/100 g in the following optimization.

(3)

where Y is the SDF fraction (g/100 g), X1 is the die temperature (
C),
X2 is the moisture (g/100 g), and X3 is the screw speed (rpm).
The statistical signicance of the regression equation checked by
the F test and the ANOVA are shown in Table 3. The big F value
(199.78) and the small probability value (p < 0.0001) indicated high

Table 2
BoxeBehnken design (in uncoded level of three variables), experimental results and
predicted values of the response surface methodology optimization.a
Numberb Temperature Moisture

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

Screw speed Soluble dietary ber (g/

100 g)

(X1,
C)

(X2, g/100 g) (X3, rpm)

Experimental Predicted

165
185
165
185
165
185
165
175
175
175
175
175
175
175
175
175
175

20
30
20
30
25
25
25
25
20
30
20
30
25
25
25
25
25

8.52
11.46
7.81
10.16
8.63
11.43
8.89
11.75
9.02
8.25
9.31
8.56
10.45
10.21
10.48
10.41
10.38

190
190
190
190
180
180
200
200
180
180
200
200
190
190
190
190
190

0.25
0.38
0.91
0.40
0.27
0.37
0.29
0.39
0.14
0.31
0.38
0.28
0.16
0.35
0.29
0.33
0.18

8.42
11.46
7.84
10.28
8.68
11.39
8.95
11.72
9.09
8.20
9.38
8.51
10.39
10.39
10.39
10.39
10.39

a
Each value was calibrated with the convert factor and represented as mean SD
(n 3).
b
Experiments were conducted in a random order.

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D. Long et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 59 (2014) 605e611

Table 3
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for response surface quadratic model for soluble dietary fiber fraction of wheat bran subjected to CO2 blasting extrusion.
Sourcea

Sum of
squares

Model
X1
X2
X3
X1X2
X1X3
X2X3
X12
X22
X32
Residual
Lack of t
Pure error
R2
R2adj
C.V. %
Total

23.55
14.99
1.56
0.17
0.087
9  104
1  104
0.25
5.51
0.88
0.092
0.047
0.045
0.9961
0.9911
1.17
23.64

a
b

dfb
9
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
7
3
4

16

Mean
squares

F-value

P-value

2.62
14.99
1.56
0.17
0.087
9  104
1  104
0.25
5.51
0.88
0.013
0.016
0.011

199.78
1144.17
118.91
13.29
6.64
0.069
7.634  103
19.41
420.85
67.06

<0.0001
<0.0001
<0.0001
0.0082
0.0366
0.8008
0.9328
0.0031
<0.0001
<0.0001

1.41

0.3622

X1: temperature (
C); X2: moisture (g/100 g); X3: screw speed (rpm).
df: degrees of freedom.

signicance of the obtained model. Meanwhile, the lack-of-t F value

of 1.41 and P value of 0.3622 implied that the lack of t was not
signicant relative to the pure error. Big values of the determination
coefcient (0.9961) and adjusted determination coefcient (0.9911)
indicated a good compatibility between the experimental and predicted data. The coefcient of variation of 1.17% indicated that the
obtained model was highly reproducible. Table 3 also shows the
regression coefcients of the intercept, linear, and interaction terms
of the model. The signicance of each coefcient was determined
using the F value and P value. The bigger the F value and the smaller
the P value, the more signicant the corresponding coefcient. We
concluded that the linear coefcients (X1, X2, and X3), quadratic term
coefcients (X21, X22, and X23), and cross product coefcients (X1X2)
were signicant, with small p values (p < 0.05). The other term coefcients were not signicant (p > 0.05). Among the three observed
variables, die temperature (X1) presented the highest F value, which
indicated that die temperature was the most dominant factor in
deciding the response (SDF fraction).
Three-dimensional response surface plots visualized the effects of
the variables on the response. These plots could be used to determine
optimal levels of the variables. The SDF fraction in the resulting
extrudate was affected by extrusion temperature, feed moisture, and
screw speed, as shown in Fig.1. The SDF fraction affected by extrusion
temperature is shown in Fig. 1A and 1B. This nding suggested that
the SDF fraction was positively dependent on the extrusion temperature. This dependence could be possibly ascribed to the greater
degradation of insoluble polysaccharides induced by higher temperature. The degradation of IDF during extrusion was explained by a
result of the break of glycosidic bonds in long molecular chains of IDF
or the depolymerization of macromolecules in IDF (Jing & Chi, 2013;
Li et al., 2012). Consequently, the degradation of IDF resulted in an
improvement on the solubility of the dietary fiber. The effects of feed
moisture on SDF fraction are shown in Fig.1A and 1C. In the low scope
of feed moisture, the SDF fraction increased with feed moisture. The
SDF fraction reached its peak at mediate feed moisture of 23.7 g/
100 g, followed by a decline with further increase in feed moisture. In
the low-moisture range (<23.7 g/100 g), the reaction efciency of
NaHCO3 and C6H8O7 weakened, which brought about decreased
pressure in the barrel. However, in the high-moisture range (>23.7 g/
100 g), the feed presented lower viscosity, which facilitated the
movement of feed in the barrel and thereof decreased shear force and
shortened transit time of the feed across the barrel (Meng, Threinen,

Fig. 1. Response surface plots showing the effect of die temperature (
C, X1), feed
moisture (%, X2), and screw speed (rpm, X3) on SDF fraction: (A) die temperature vs.
feed moisture (screw speed: 190 rpm); (B) die temperature vs. screw speed (feed
moisture: 25 g/100 g); (C) feed moisture vs. screw speed (die temperature: 175
C).

Hansen, & Driedger, 2010). Like the affecting pattern of feed moisture
on SDF fraction, screw speed (X3) displayed a quadratic effect on the
response and peaked at 191.8 rpm (Fig. 1B and 1C). This nding could
be explained by the fact that the increase in screw speed tends to
increase shearing force but shorten the transit time of the feed across
the barrel (Larrea, Chang, & Martnez Bustos, 2005). In conclusion,
the maximum SDF fraction (12.09 g/100 g) could be theoretically
achieved when CO2 blasting extrusion was operated with following
parameters: extrusion temperature of 185
C, feed moisture of 23.7 g/

D. Long et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 59 (2014) 605e611

100 g, screw speed of 191.8 rpm, and using 30 g/100 g C6H8O7 and
NaHCO3 mixture (1:1, w/w) as CO2-producing reagent.
To test the validity of the model in predicting the response
values, CO2 blasting extrusion was operated with the following
parameters: extrusion temperature, 185
C; feed moisture, 24 g/
100 g; and screw speed, 192 rpm. The experimental SDF fraction
was 11.64 g/100 g, while the predicted value was 12.09 g/100 g. No
signicant (p > 0.05) difference was observed between experimental SDF fraction and predicted value, demonstrating the validity and adequacy of the RSM model for the extrusion process.
3.3. Chemical characterization of wheat bran extrudate
The proximate compositions of untreated and extruded WBP
with or without CO2-producing reagent under the previously
mentioned optimal conditions are presented in Table 4. Extrusion
without CO2-producing reagent did not signicantly change
(p > 0.05) the values in protein, total starch, and resistant starch but
brought about an obvious decrease in fat and a prominent increase
in reducing sugar. The decrease in fat might be caused by the formation of starch-lipid and protein-lipid complexes that are unex
rez-Navarrete, Gonza

lez, Cheltractable with apolar solvents (Pe
Guerrero, & Betancur-Ancona, 2006). The increase in reducing
sugar might have resulted from the degradation of starch and other
polysaccharides during extrusion. However, protein, fat, and starch
in the blasting extrudate were lower than that in untreated wheat
bran (p < 0.05). The decreased nitrogen content was a result of the
transformation of the amide group into ammonia, which was
released from the hot extrudate at the outlet of the extruder
(Stanley, 1989). The decrease in starch in the blasting extrudate was
partly caused by the starch hydrolysis induced by NaHCO3 and
C6H8O7, as reected by the increase in reducing sugar shown in
Table 4.

Table 4
Physicochemical properties of wheat bran subjected to different extrusiontreatments.a
Parameters

Untreated
wheat bran

Compositionb
Protein (g/100 g) 16.08 0.29e
Fat (g/100 g)
3.40 0.16e
Reducing sugar
0.52 0.03e
(g/100 g)
Starch (g/100 g)
23.52 0.57e
Resistant starch
1.45 0.39e
(g/100 g)
TDF (g/100 g)
41.06 0.20e
SDF (g/100 g)
2.54 0.17e
IDF (g/100 g)
38.52 0.41e
IDF/SDF
15.16
Colorc
L
75.49 0.52e
a
3.33 0.26e
b
16.78 0.08e
DE
e
Hydrating propertiesd
WRC (g/g)
3.59 0.25e
ORC (g/g)
2.41 0.10e
SC (ml/g)
1.71 0.14e

609

3.4. DF composition of wheat bran extrudate

As shown in Table 4, both reference extrusion and blasting
extrusion decreased the IDF fraction and increased the SDF fraction.
These changes were more remarkable in blasting extrusion. The
IDF/SDF ratio of wheat bran was decreased from 15.2 to 2.8 by
blasting extrusion. The nal product gained an IDF/SDF ratio
comparable to that of orange peel (IDF/SDF ratio 3.1) (de Moraes
^ res, 2013)
Crizel, Jablonski, de Oliveira Rios, Rech, & Hickmann Flo
and apple pomace (IDF/SDF ratio 2.5) (Sudha, Baskaran, &
Leelavathi, 2007). This nding indicated that a redistribution of
IDF to SDF occurred in the extrusion process. Similar results were
reported with the extrusion of maizeenger millet blend (Onyango

rezet al., 2005) and blends of maize and lima bean our (Pe
Navarrete et al., 2006). The occurrence of the redistribution of the
IDF to SDF would be the result of the breakage of covalent and
noncovalent linkages between carbohydrates and proteins associated with the ber, resulting in small molecular fragments, which
would be more soluble (Larrea et al., 2005). However, for blasting
extrusion, the decreased amount of IDF was smaller than the
increased amount of SDF, suggesting the formation of SDF from
non-DF components. Previous studied insisted that highly reactive
anhydro-compounds were generated during extrusion cooking.
They could react with starch molecules through transglycosidation
reactions to form indigestible branched glucans (Vasanthan,
Gaosong, Yeung, & Li, 2002). In blasting extrusion, we assumed
that the degradation products derived from starch facilitated the
formation of highly reactive anhydro-compounds, which nally
contributed to the signicant increase of TDF in the extrudate. The
increase in TDF that resulted from extrusion was also conrmed by
Esposito et al. (2005). Besides the above mentioned reasons, the
hydrolytic action on IDF in the blasting extruded samples induced
by NaHCO3 or C6H8O7 might contribute to the increase in SDF.
3.5. Monosaccharide composition of DF in wheat bran extrudate

Reference extruded
wheat bran

Blasting extruded
wheat bran

The monosaccharide composition of IDF and SDF in untreated

and extruded WBP with or without CO2-producing reagent is
shown in Table 5. The major monosaccharides of wheat bran were

15.99 0.11e
2.31 0.06f
0.76 0.06f

14.88 0.47f
2.29 0.10f
1.37 0.08g

Table 5
Monosaccharide composition (g/100 g) of soluble dietary fiber (SDF) and insoluble
dietary fiber (IDF) in wheat bran subjected to different extrusions.a

24.85 1.23e
1.51 0.13e

20.28 0.38f
1.59 0.23e

41.11 0.47
4.37 0.21f
36.74 0.16f
8.41

44.45 0.81
11.64 0.18g
32.81 0.95g
2.82

57.31 0.02g
6.84 0.04g
19.77 0.05f
18.76 0.02e

63.59 0.54f
5.54 0.16f
19.59 0.36f
12.43 0.46f

5.13 0.10g
2.68 0.12f
3.45 0.09f

4.74 0.17f
3.50 0.03g
3.48 0.03f

eeg
. Values in the same row with different letters are significantly different
(p < 0.05).
a
Values are reported as mean value SD (n 3).
b
TDF: total dietary fiber; SDF: soluble dietary fiber; IDF: insoluble dietary; Each
value is expressed as the dry weight basis.
c
L: lightness; a: redness; b: yellowness; DE [(L  L0)2 (a  a0)2 (b  b0)2]1/2
where, L0, a0 and b0 were the lab value of untreated samples.
d
WRC: water retention capacity; ORC: oil retention capacity; SC: swelling
capacity.

Monosaccharidef
SDF
Rha
Fuc
Ara
Xyl
Man
Glc
Gal
Uronic acid
IDF
Rha
Fuc
Ara
Xyl
Man
Glc
Gal
Uronic acid

Untreated

Reference extruded

Blasting extruded

0.09
0.07
2.43
3.47
0.32
2.81
1.18
2.25

0.12b
0.01b
0.76b
0.57b
0.15b
0.20b
0.19b
0.11b

0.05
0.07
2.44
4.22
0.09
3.21
0.6
3.09

0.05b
0.01b
0.64b
0.76b
0.01b
0.48b
0.48b
0.06c

0.02 0.02b
0.12 0.01c
4.22 0.42c
11.91 0.58c
0.14 0.01b
8.23 0.31c
1.03 0.07b
3.67 0.06d

0.05
0.05
15.86
25.33
0.24
3.97
1.17
4.49

0.03b
0.02b
0.93b
1.10b
0.13b
0.84b
0.21b
0.03b

0.04
0.04
15.81
22.47
0.27
3.60
1.12
3.99

0.03b
0.01b
1.07b
0.72c
0.19b
0.99b
0.08c
0.07c

NDe
0.03 0.01b
13.53 0.64c
22.69 0.78c
0.15 0.02b
1.54 0.14c
0.96 0.10d
3.80 0.04d

bed
Values in the same row with different letters are significantly different
(p < 0.05).
a
Values are reported as mean value SD (n 3).
e
ND: None detected.
f
Rha: rhamnose; Fuc: fucose; Ara: arabinose; Xyl: xylose; Man: mannose; Gal:
galactose; Glc: glucose.

610

D. Long et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 59 (2014) 605e611

Fig. 2. Scanning electron micrographs of untreated WBP (A, 2000), reference extruded WBP (B, 2000), and blasting extruded WBP (C, 2000).

arabinose, xylose, glucose, and galactose, both in the IDF and SDF
fractions. The reference extrusion resulted in a signicant increase
of UA in the SDF fraction and reasonable decrease of xylose,
galactose, and UA in the IDF fraction. Compared to the reference
extrusion, the blasting extrusion brought about more pronounced
changes in the monosaccharide composition of IDF and SDF fractions. In detail, signicant decreases of rhamnose, arabinose,
xylose, glucose, galactose, and UA were observed in the IDF fraction.
As a result of the redistribution of IDF to SDF, signicant increases of
fucose, arabinose, xylose, glucose, and UA presented in the SDF
fraction. We speculated that the decreases of arabinose and xylose
in IDF and their increases in SDF was a partial result of the transformation of water-insoluble wheat arabinoxylan into watersoluble wheat arabinoxylan. The signicant increase of glucose in
SDF could be explained by the followings facts: (1) the increase in
the solubility of wheat b-glucans (Ralet, Thibault, & Della Valle,
1990); (2) the decomposition of wheat bran cellulose into soluble
fragments (Martn-Cabrejas et al., 1999); and (3) the newly synthesized water-soluble indigestible branched glucans through
transglycosidation reactions (Vasanthan et al., 2002).
3.6. Color and microscopic characteristic of wheat bran extrudate
The lightness (L), redness (a), yellowness (b) and total color
change (DE) of untreated and extruded WBP are presented in
Table 4. An obvious browning reaction occurred in the extrusion
process, as indicated by the decrease in lightness and increases in
redness and yellowness. Maillard reactions and caramelization
were mainly responsible for this result (Maga, 1989). Comparatively, the blasting extrudate presented a lesser browning intensity
than the reference extrudate. This nding was possibly due to the
presence of sodium salt, which acted against the browning reaction
by lowering the water activity of the feed (Li et al., 2012). The
scanning electron micrographs of untreated, reference extruded,
and blasting extruded WBP are shown in Fig. 2. The untreated WBP
was observed as compact particles. However, obvious particle
rupture was observed with extruded WBP with rougher and looser
structure. More importantly, the intact WBP was broken into
smaller fragments by extrusion, which was more remarkable with
the blasting extrudate.

could be associated with the higher amounts of IDF in the reference

extrudate (Femenia, Lefebvre, Thebaudin, Robertson, & Bourgeois
Femenia, 1997). Certainly, the changes in the structure of starch
granules and starch gelatinization induced by the high temperature
in barrel would affect the WRC of the extrudate (Anguita, Gasa,

rez, 2006). Signicant increases in ORC were
Martn-Ore, & Pe
also observed with both reference extrudate and blasting extrudate, which might be because a larger number of lipophilic sites
was released by extrusion (Chau & Huang, 2003). Similarly, both
reference extrudate and blasting extrudate presented higher values
in SC than untreated WBP. To sum up, the high WRC, ORC, and SC of
extruded WBP suggested their potential utilization in food applications as high DF ingredients to reduce calorie levels.
4. Conclusion
In this study, CO2 blasting extrusion was successfully applied to
wheat bran to increase its SDF fraction. Under the optimal parameters (extrusion temperature, 185
C; feed moisture, 24 g/100 g;
and screw speed, 192 rpm), the SDF fraction in WBP could be
increased from 2.54 g/100 g to 11.64 g/100 g. The increase in SDF
resulted from a redistribution of the IDF to SDF, which mainly
referred to the transformation of insoluble arabinoxylan into soluble arabinoxylan and newly synthesized water-soluble indigestible glucans through transglycosidation. In addition, the functional
properties including WRC, ORC, and SC of WBP were signicantly
improved by CO2 blasting extrusion. This nding suggested that
CO2 blasting extruded WBP should be a potential ingredient in
manufacturing low-energy density foods. Despite the high capacity
for increasing SDF fraction in WBP, the present extrusion method
inevitably brought about a non-negligible amount of sodium salts
in the resulting extrudate. Given this limitation, the extrudate
should be restricted to people with hypertension.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by a grant from the National High
Technology Research and Development Program of China (863
Program) (No 2011AA100805-2).
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