Use of debranning fractions and debranned kernels for the development of pasta with high nutritional and healthy potential

In recent years, the awareness of consumers toward the link between the consumption of cereals, especially as whole grains, and the risk of many chronic diseases is continuously increasing. This link is mainly due to the presence of bioactive compounds such as fibre and many phytochemicals, including phenolic compounds; these compounds are mainly concentrated in the outer layers of the kernels, where also contaminants are accumulated threatening the hygienic-sanitary quality of cereals. In spite of the higher awareness of the association between diet and health, consumption of whole grains remain lower than recommendations, due to many barriers including taste and texture of whole grains products. Therefore, there is a growing interest in the optimization or development of technological processes aimed to obtain cereal-based food with high nutritional, technological and sensory quality in order to help consumers in increasing their consumption of wholegrain foods. In this context, among these modern cereal technologies, debranning process seems suitable to reach these objectives. In the present studies, we investigated the impact of debranning (debranning fractions, DF, and debranned kernels, DK) in pasta-making on the occurrence of phenolic acids (PAs), and total phenolic compounds (TPC).Two different durum wheat based products were tested: i) a pasta sample produced by enriching semolina with selected debranning fractions, obtained by sequential debranning (pasta test 1); ii) a pasta sample produced by debranned kernels previously whole milled (pasta test 2). To better evaluate the impact of the enrichment and the suitability of debranning, the pasta test 1 and 2 were compared to pasta made using semolina (pasta 3), acting as a reference. Results showed that pasta 1 and 2 had significant higher content of PAs and TPC in comparison with traditional pasta. Therefore, the use of whole milled debranned kernels or semolina enriched with DF for pasta-making process allows to obtain pasta samples with a high content of phenolic compounds. The impact of the different processes (extrusion, drying and cooking) on the occurrence of PAs and TPC was different for the pasta samples under study. Moreover, a different influence of the processes for the 3 PA forms (soluble free, soluble conjugated and insoluble bound) were found. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that the occurrence of phenolic compounds increased significantly when debranned kernels and debranning fractions are used in pasta-making. Therefore this approach proved to be useful for the production of cereal-based foods with a high nutritional and healthy potential.