Enzyme resistant carbohydrate based micro-scale materials from sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) pulp for food and pharmaceutical applications

Bio-based micro-scale materials are increasingly used in functional food and pharmaceutical applications. The present study produced carbohydrate-based micro-scale tubular materials from sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) pulp (SBP), a by-product of sugar beet processing. The isolated carbohydrates were composed of 84% non-sucrose carbohydrates and small amount of fat (13%), protein (1.22%), and ash (0.9%). These highly pure carbohydrates were used to prepare micro-scale materials. Micro-scale tubular structures had lengths of 22.5±0.9 µm and cavities of 3.9±1.2 µm. The stability of these micro-scale tubular materials was studied by dissolution and digestion studies. The degrees of dissolution under simulated stomach and intestine conditions were 45–56% and 45–58%, respectively. The pancreatic enzymatic digestion with α-amylase and amyloglucosidase was 34.1%. In addition the X-ray diffraction showed the presence of A-type structures with 11.07% crystallinity. Furthermore, the material was thermally stable.