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Food Chemistry 113 (2009) 121–126

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Food Chemistry
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem

Unripe banana flour as an ingredient to increase the undigestible
carbohydrates of pasta
Maribel Ovando-Martinez a, Sonia Sáyago-Ayerdi b, Edith Agama-Acevedo a,
Isabel Goñi b, Luis A. Bello-Pérez a,*
a
b

Centro de Desarrollo de ProductosBióticos del IPN, Apartado postal 24 C.P., 62731 Yautepec, Morelos, Mexico
Departamento de Nutrición, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain

article

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Article history:
Received 4 May 2008
Received in revised form 27 May 2008
Accepted 16 July 2008

Keywords:
Pasta
Banana flour
Undigestible carbohydrate
Antioxidant capacity
.

abstractBanana is a starchy food that contains a high proportion of undigestible compounds, such as resistant
starch and non-starch polysaccharides. There is an excess of production and large quantities of bananas
are lost. The objective of this study was to use unripe banana flour as a food ingredient to make pasta
(spaghetti) of high quality, on the basis of low-carbohydrate digestibility, and increasedresistant starch
and antioxidant phenolics contents.
Formulations consisting of 100% durum wheat semolina (control) and mixtures of semolina:banana
flour of 85:15, 70:30 and 55:45 were prepared for spaghetti processing.
Nutritional composition, in vitro kinetics of starch digestion and antioxidant capacity were determined.
The addition of banana flour increased the indigestible fraction andthe content of phenolic compounds in
the spaghetti. As a consequence of the compositional changes, a slow, low rate for the enzymatic hydrolysis of carbohydrates was observed. Moreover, banana flour spaghetti possessed increased antioxidant
capacity.
Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Pasta is a traditional food and its consumption has increased
due to its ease oftransportation, handling, cooking and preparation
(Rayas-Duarte, Mock, & Satterlee, 1996; Tudorica, Kuri, & Brennan,
2002). Pasta is low in sodium and lipid, it has no cholesterol and is
a rich source of complex carbohydrates (Giese, 1992), producing a
low-postprandial response to glucose and insulin in the blood
(Cleary & Brennan, 2006; Tudorica et al., 2002).
Unripe bananas, widely produced inseveral Latin American
countries, are a source of carbohydrates and nutritionally interesting
bioactive compounds. There is an excess of production and large
quantities of fruits are lost during commerce, as a consequence of
deficient postharvest handling. New economic strategies are considered for banana as a food ingredient. Banana flour is a starchy food
that contains a high proportion ofundigestible compounds such as
resistant starch (RS 17.5%), and non-starch polysaccharides, included in the dietary fibre content (DF, 14.5%) (Juárez-García,
Agama-Acevedo, Sáyago-Ayerdi, Rodríguez-Ambriz, & Bello-Pérez,
2006).
Several studies have suggested that consumption of unripe bananas exerts a beneficial effect on human health, associated with
undigestible components (Faisant, Gallant,Bouchet, & Champ,
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +52 735 3942020; fax: +52 735 3941896.
E-mail address: labellop@ipn.mx (L.A. Bello-Pérez).
0308-8146/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2008.07.035

1995). Moreover, unripe banana flour could be a source of antioxidant polyphenols (Vergara-Valencia et al., 2007).
The objective of this study wasto use unripe banana flour as a
food ingredient to make a common type of pasta (spaghetti), low in
carbohydrate digestibility, and high in resistant starch and antioxidant phenolics contents.

2. Materials and methods
2.1. Banana flour preparation
Commercial hard green (unripe) preclimacteric bananas (Musa
paradisiaca L.) were purchased from the local market in Cuautla,
Morelos, Mexico....