Unique Gelling Properties of Non-starch Polysaccharides from Pre-processed Wheat Bran

Non-starch polysaccharides (NSP), extracted with 0.5M NaOH from pre-processed wheat bran, contained arabinoxylans (77%) and β-D-glucan (23%). Water-soluble pentosans have been reported to form gels by an oxidative process; this is believed to be an important functional component of bread quality. In contrast to the water-soluble pentosans extracted from wheat flour, NSP from pre-processed wheat bran formed gels upon cooling. A strong gel was obtained when 2.0% of NSP was cooled at 4°C for 16 hr. The gel structure changed as the temperature increased from 4°C to 70°C with an apparent structure breakdown temperature at about 40°C. Significant hysteresis was also observed between the cooling and heating curves of NSP gels.