Enhancing the Nutritional Value of Gluten-Free Cookies with Inulin

Abstract

Gluten-free products are usually not fortified and are regularly prepared from refined flour and starch. Moreover, gluten-free products with high nutritional values are lacking in the market. The main objective of this study was to enhance the nutritional value of gluten-free cookies with inulin as a source of both prebiotics and fibre. Inulin was added at four levels (3.0, 3.5%, 4.0 and 4.5%) to the gluten-free cookie control formula (corn flour, corn starch, rice flour and lupine flour). Chemical, physical and sensory characteristics were determined. The results indicated that the addition of 3.0% inulin resulted in the highest protein, fat and ash content, while 4.0% inulin gave the highest moisture content. The total dietary fibre content increased with the inulin level, but the spread factor decreased with increasing inulin level. The sensory evaluation demonstrated that the addition of dietary fibre (inulin) at different concentrations did not compromise the sensory characteristics and incorporation of 4.0% inulin had satisfactory consumer acceptance. It was concluded that enhancing gluten-free cookies with a new fibrous prebiotic substance met the nutritional demands in relation to practical demand.

The Effect of Inulin as a Fat Replacement on Dough and Biscuit Properties

“…Maghaydah et al . () applied inulin as a fat mimetic in gluten‐free cookies. Contrary to us, they did not observed any significant changes in fat content between the samples and the control.…”

“…The protein, ash and carbohydrates contents did not changed in inulin-improved breads; however, the total dietary fiber in breads containing 10% inulin increased by 60% compared with the control. Maghaydah et al (2013) applied inulin as a fat mimetic in gluten-free cookies. Contrary to us, they did not observed any significant changes in fat content between the samples and the control.…”

Inulin-Type Fructans Application in Gluten-Free Products: Functionality and Health Benefits

“…Cookies are considered as a good deliverer of nutritional components, especially for children, because of sweet taste, long shelf-life, and low cost. Additionally, the results showed no impact of inulin addition on sensory quality, including flavor, texture, aroma, and softness as well as the technological properties, especially width, thickness, and spread factor [197].…”

“…The literature data on the application of ITFs in the GF products and on their health beneficial properties, as presented in this chapter, points to a great potential of ITFs in the GF living. In this chapter, we have presented the most recent studies on GF products in which ITFs were applied as valuable [197] Layer cake 20 or mixed with oat fiber (1:3 ratio)…”

“…ITFs as fat and sugar substitute were proposed as additives to GF confectionary products. Maghaydah and co-workers [197] demonstrated that different levels of inulin increased moisture of GF cookies in parallel with increasing share of inulin. Moreover, inulin increased the dietary fiber content in fortified GF cookies.…”