| Abstract: | Water‐soluble β‐glucan (BG) extracted from a high‐BG oat line was treated with different amounts of lichenase (1→3)(1→4)‐β‐d ‐glucanase) enzyme to yield three different molecular weight (MW) BG extracts. Low (LMW‐BG, 157,000), medium (MMW‐BG, 277,000), and high (HMW‐BG, 560,000) MW BG extracts were added to plain muffin formulations at a level of 0.52% (0.42% in the batter, 0.52% in the resultant muffins) to investigate the effect of MW of BG on textural and bile acid (BA) binding properties of the muffins. In addition, treatments were prepared containing LMW‐BG, MMW‐BG, and HMW‐BG extracts in amounts providing equivalent batter firmness as determined on a texture analyzer. Resultant BG concentrations (and per serving amounts) of these muffins were 1.36% (0.81 g/60 g muffin), 1.05% (0.63 g/60 g muffin), and 0.52% (0.31 g/60 g muffin), respectively; thus, the LMW treatment complied with a U.S. Food and Drug Administration health claim requiring 0.75 g of BG per serving. The firmness, springiness, and BA‐binding capacity of the muffins were unaffected by the MW of BG. However, when added at the maximum limit for equivalent batter firmness, the LMW treatment was more firm and less springy than the HMW treatment. Furthermore, BA‐binding capacities of LMW and MMW fractions tended to be greater than that of the HMW fraction when added at the maximum limit. These results add further evidence to the importance of fine‐tuning BG structure to provide maximum health benefits while maintaining high product quality. |
