Functional extruded snacks from amaranth, soycake and shallot flours: Nutritional composition, physicochemical and antioxidant properties

Abstract

Modernization has promoted a shift from consumption of healthy traditional meals to preference for ready-to-eat meals and snack products which often have low nutrient density and poor beneficial health effects. The present study developed extruded snacks from potentially nutrient dense materials (amaranth, shallot, soycake) with significant bioactive components. Extruded snack was produced from flour blends generated using Nutri-Survey linear programming namely ASS1 (Amaranth 55 % + Shallot 25 % + Soycake 20 %), ASS2 (Amaranth 60.4 % + Shallot 25 % + Soycake 14.6 %), ASS3 (Amaranth 70 % + Shallot 25 % + Soycake 5 %), ASS4 (Amaranth 75 % + Shallot 14.8 % + Soycake 10.2 %) while AMS (100 % Amaranth) and WSS (wheat-shallot market sample) were used as positive controls. Snacks were analysed for functional properties, color attributes, mineral and antinutrient contents. The antioxidant properties, glycemic index and consumer acceptability of the snacks were also investigated. Proportional increase in bulk density (0.43–0.46 g/ml), decrease in water solubility index (3.86 to 2.88 %) and maintained expansion ratio (∼2.63) were observed in formulated extruded snacks (ASS1 – ASS3) as proportion of amaranth grain increased and soycake decreased while ASS4 was significantly different (p< 0.05) from other snacks made from the amaranth blends. The snacks had significant contents of valuable mineral elements and the antinutrients were below critical values. Antioxidant activities increased with increasing proportion of shallot; the values were significantly (p< 0.05) higher than those of AMS. Snacks possessed low glycaemic index (34.37–38.75) although, higher values in control. ASS1 had medium glycaemic load (GL) of 19.62 while other formulated snack products showed a high GL (20.61–28.51). The formulated products were highly accepted by the panelists with scores ranging from 7.10 to 7.86 out of the 9 point scale. Formulated extruded snacks especially ASS1 showed good functional characteristics, significant bioactive potential and ability to regulate glycemic metabolism.