Effect of pasta processing on physicochemical properties of barley ?-glucan and phenolic acids

The increasing interest in the relationship between health and nutrition has steered the scientific research towards studying the role of specific food components/ingredients (phytochemicals), which are naturally included in many foods, in the treatment and/or prevention of ailments. Cereals are generally suitable vehicles of bioactive substances (phytochemicals) such as ?-glucan and phenolic compounds. Indeed, available literature report that ?-glucan and phenolic compounds have a beneficial role in diet and health. However, the literature seems to show that processing of grains, such as pasta processing, may affect bioactive compounds, increasing or decreasing the health-enhancing properties of cereals pro-ducts. Based on these remarks, the current PhD research work aims at developing barley pasta rich in ?-glucan as a functional food with the use of waxy barley as a rich source of so-luble dietary fiber, such as ?-glucan, and phenolic acids. The research work includes three studies: ? in the 1st study chemical, molecular and rheological properties of waxy barley individually and in blend with semolina was investigated; ? in the 2nd study impact of processing (extrusion, drying and cooking) on the concentration and physicochemical properties of the flours and blends, and mo-lecular characterization of ?-glucan, as well as viscosity of the developed pasta products was evaluated; ? in the 3th part of the research antioxidant properties and phenolic acid composi-tion of the developed pasta products was studied. The obtained results show that pasta processing may affect ?-glucan and phenolic acids. This research would make a great contribution to the barley research and assist barley industry in the development of innovative functional foods.