Characterisation of dietary fibre components in rye products

In this study, dietary fibre (DF) was characterised in rye products from a local supermarket. Soft breads generally had lower DF contents (8–18%) than had crisp breads (13–20%) due to high inclusion of wheat flour. For some products, the labelled DF values contained fructan, but others did not. However, for most products, the DF values analysed exceeded those declared. Arabinoxylan (AX) and fructan were generally the main DF components in the products, followed by cellulose and resistant starch, β-glucan, Klason lignin and arabinogalactan. In the soft breads, cellulose and resistant starch concentrations were relatively high, due to significant formation of resistant starch. During bread manufacturing, the molecular weight of β-glucan was highly degraded, while that of AX was more resistant. Extruded products had the highest β-glucan extractability and the extracted β-glucan retained its molecular weight most, which may be of nutritional significance. In rye milling fractions, about 50% of the fructan content analysed had a degree of polymerisation below 10, i.e. it comprised oligosaccharides. The crisp breads produced without yeast had the highest DF and fructan contents and the highest proportion of low-molecular weight fructan. These results indicate that, during bread-making, the low-molecular weight fraction of fructan was most available for degradation by yeast or by endogenous enzymes present in the ingredients.