FENGMEI ZHU^1†, BAOJIANG HE^2†, XIYAN ZHAO¹, BIN DU³, SHAOJUN LIU¹*
*Corresponding author
† These authors contributed equally to this work.
1. College of Food Science and Technology, Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology, Qinhuangdao, 066600 P.R. China
2. Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute of China, National Tobacco Corporation, Zhengzhou, 450001 P.R. China
3. Analysis and Testing Centre, Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology, Qinhuangdao, 066600 P.R. China

Abstract

Chinese ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) DF powder was obtained by regular grinding and then by ultrafine grinding, whose effects were investigated on the composition, functional and antioxidant properties of Chinese ginger DF products. The results indicated that ultrafine grinding could effectively pulverize the fibre particles to micro-scale. With particle size decrease, the water holding capacity (WHC) and oil binding capacity (OBC) of Chinese ginger DF were significantly (p?0.05) decreased and the water retention (WRC) capacity, swelling capacity and nitrite ion absorption capacity were increased. The antioxidant activities of ginger and DF before and after grinding were in terms of ABTS radical scavenging activity, DPPH radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and total phenolic content (TPC). Micronized insoluble DF showed increased ORAC and TPC yet decreased ABTS radical scavenging activity. DPPH and FRAP had no significant change in this paper. One kind of health beneficial DF was obtained with higher soluble DF content, WRC, swelling capacity, nitrite ion absorption capacity and antioxidant activity (ORAC, FRAP and TPC) by ultrafine grinding. This study could be useful for the application of ultrafine grinding technology in food industry.

INTRODUCTION

Dietary fibre (DF) has an outstanding application as one of the key nutritional factors in the frame of a healthy diet. It has been suggested that intake of diet containing high DF is negatively related to the incidence rate of chronic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, large bowel cancer, cardiovascular disease, colonic diverticulosis and constipation (1-3]. As a kind of newly bioactive constituent, DF has become a gained attention in the research field (4).
Ginger, derived from the rhizome of Zingiber officinale Rosco (Zingiberaceae), is one of the most widely used spices around the world and its global production is estimated to be 100 000 tons per year on a dry weight basis (5). Ginger has many applications in the food and pharmaceutical sectors as an additive in a number of commercial foods and beverages. It was also used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat headaches, nausea and colds (6). Moreover, ginger is also a good source of DF (5). Due to biological properties of ginger, it has gained considerable attention as a botanical dietary supplement in the USA and Europe in recent years, and especially for its use ...