Effects of pretreatment methods on health-related functional properties of high dietary fibre powder from lime residues

Epidemiological studies have revealed that consumption of dietary fibre (DF) leads to many health benefits. Lime residues, which are by-products obtained after juice extraction, were used as raw material to produce DF powder. The residues are high in DF and possess a good balance between insoluble dietary fibre (IDF) and soluble dietary fibre (SDF). To process lime residues into value added products, some treatments prior to drying are required to reduce the bitterness, and this may affect the functional and nutritional properties of DF powder. This study investigated the effects of pretreatment methods of blanching, blanching-ethanol soaking (95% v/v for 30 min) and particle size reduction (38–450 μm) on selected health related functional and nutritional properties of DF from lime residues. The lime residues were dried at 60 °C before grinding. The functional and nutritional properties of interest included glucose adsorption capacity (GAC), glucose retardation index (GRI) and bile acid retardation index (BRI). The results show that DF powder prepared either by blanching or blanching followed by ethanol soaking prior to drying exhibited higher GRI and BRI. The pretreatments, however, did not affect the GAC. DF powder with smaller sizes also possessed higher GRI and BRI. The DF product with particle size in the range of 38–63 μm, and pretreated by blanching and ethanol soaking exhibited the highest GRI and BRI among all samples studied.