Improving the functionality and bioactivity of wheat bran.

Abstract

Wheat bran, including the aleurone layer, contains the vast majority of phenolic antioxidants found in the wheat kernel. Unfortunately, about 80% of phenolic acids in wheat bran are structurally bound and insoluble. These bound phenolics are neither bioactive nor bioavailable during digestion. Additionally, wheat bran contains 43% total dietary fiber, but only 3% soluble dietary fiber. Insoluble fiber is less functional than soluble fiber which has been shown to lower cholesterol and regulate blood sugar. We hypothesized that processing could improve the functionality of wheat bran and bioavailability of phytochemicals in the bran. Specifically, we aimed to maximize the physical properties of viscosity and water hydration capacity in wheat bran, while also maximizing the release of bound phenolic antioxidants from the bran. Wheat bran processing included physical treatments of dry grinding, high shear mixing, high pressure homogenization (HPH), and alkali chemical treatments with different concentration, time, and temperature. Sample analysis included particle size, Wheat bran, including the aleurone layer, contains the vast majority of phenolic antioxidants found in the wheat kernel. Unfortunately, about 80% of phenolic acids in wheat bran are structurally bound and insoluble. These bound phenolics are neither bioactive nor bioavailable during digestion. Additionally, wheat bran contains 43% total dietary fiber, but only 3% soluble dietary fiber. Insoluble fiber is less functional than soluble fiber which has been shown to lower cholesterol and regulate blood sugar. We hypothesized that processing could improve the functionality of wheat bran and bioavailability of phytochemicals in the bran. Specifically, we aimed to maximize the physical properties of viscosity and water hydration capacity in wheat bran, while also maximizing the release of bound phenolic antioxidants from the bran. Wheat bran processing included physical treatments of dry grinding, high shear mixing, high pressure homogenization (HPH), and alkali chemical treatments with different concentration, time, and temperature. Sample analysis included particle size, viscosity, water hydration capacity (WHC), water extractable material (Wa-Ex), free phenolics, and visual imaging by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Prescreening results showed that while HPH helped reduce particle size of bran regardless of treatment, only alkali chemical treatments released the vast majority of bound phenolics. Alkali treatments also contributed to viscosity increase, with interaction of variables of alkali concentration, treatment time, and temperature. Variables for optimization studies included bran grind, alkali concentration, reaction time, and reaction temperature, while process treatments that remained constant were high shear mixing after chemical pretreatment and HPH conditions. Two factorial designs were conducted to optimize viscosity and WHC of bran while maximizing release of bound phenolics. The second factorial design was an augmentation to the first and data was combined for statistical analysis. Viscosity maximum was reached using 0.5mm screen size in bran dry grinding and chemical treatment conditions of 60°C soak temp, 24 hour soak time, 0.1N NaOH concentration. WHC maximum was reached using 0.5mm screen size in bran dry grinding and chemical treatment conditions of 48°C soak temp, 20 hour soak time, 0.7N NaOH concentration. Overall, process optimization was successful and produced wheat bran with a 500% increase in viscosity, 200% increase in WHC, 500% increase in soluble fiber, and a 300 fold increase in free and soluble bound phenolic antioxidants. Visual confirmation by SEM validated analysis results and showed the optimized bran had a very open and porous structure due to the chemical weakening of the alkali treatment and high shear pulverization of the HPH treatment. The optimized viscosity process was scaled up to produce a large quantity of samples for further research in this collaborative study. Work to separate or concentrate the soluble fraction of processed bran utilized centrifugation to produce additional samples of more soluble and more insoluble processed bran fractions.