Dietary Fibre, In-Vitro Starch and Protein Digestibility, Glycemic Index, and Acceptability of Whole Wheat-African Breadfruit Seed Based Fibre-Rich Bread Bars

The study was carried out to elucidate the suitability and utilization of African breadfruit (Treculia africana) seed flour in the development of bread bars. Whole wheat and whole African breadfruit seeds were processed to flours and bread bars were developed from the flour blends in the ratio of 100:0, 95:5, 90:10, 85:15, 80:20, 75:25 and 0:100% respectively. The bread bars were evaluated of their proximate composition, in-vitro starch and protein digestibility, glycemic index, total dietary fibre and organoleptic properties. African breadfruit flours inclusion in the development of the bread bar showed that protein (11.60-15.15 %) and crude fibre (2.82 – 4.04 %) increased with increase breadfruit flour inclusion, but there was a noticeable decrease (74.37-65.97 %) in the carbohydrate content. Soluble dietary fibre (SDF = 7.56 – 4.05 %) decreased while insoluble (IDF = 10.62 – 16.20 %) and total dietary fibre (TDF = 18.18 – 21.45 %) increased significantly (p<0.05) with increasing African breadfruit flour inclusion. In vitro glycemic index (IVGI) and starch digestibility (IVSD) decreased significantly (p<0.05) from 94.52 – 80.46 % and 70.62 – 49.14 % respectively, with increasing substitution of African breadfruit seed flour. In vitro protein digestibility ranged from 75.85 to 86.92 %. With reference to standard classifications, the formulated African breadfruit seed-based bread bars could be referred to as ‘high fibre’ and ‘low glycemic’ foods, and may have positive health benefit to the consumers, especially the diabetics and those interested in weight management.