Doum fruit (Hyphaene thebaica (L.) Mart.) supplementation improves glycemic index of wheat flour bread in apparent healthy volunteers

The increasing demand for plant-based enriched diet has encouraged the food industry to produce fiber-supplemented products such as composite breads using locally available plants products. In the present study, composite breads from doum (Hyphaene thebaica Mart.) fruit and wheat flours were produced. Control bread (0% doum fruit) and four different composite breads (10%, 20%, 30% and 40% doum fruit) were produced. The physical properties, sensory evaluation, shelf-life, proximate composition, antinutrients content and glycemic index (GI) of the composite breads were investigated. Supplementation of wheat bread with doum fruit improved the nutritional content by increasing the fiber and mineral contents with reduction in phytate content. The composite bread, especially at 40% doum fruit inclusion was moderately accepted by the product testing panels. Inclusion of doum fruit further improved the shelf-life of the composite breads at both ambient and refrigerated temperatures. Similarly, the GI was observed to improve with doum fruit inclusion at all the concentration used. Conclusively, inclusion of doum fruit to the wheat flour produced composite breads with improved physical and nutrients quality with moderate overall acceptability and lower GI.