Enriching pasta with soluble and insoluble fibre. A strategy for boosting fibre intake

In recent years, the impact of dietary fibre (DF) on human health has become a key focus in food research, driven by the rise of non-communicable diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type-2 diabetes. Shifting to a fibre-rich diet offers a promising approach to improving health and reducing the occurrence of chronic diseases. As a staple food in the Western diet, pasta could serve as an ideal vehicle for fibre fortification. This study analysed interactions between soluble-fermentable (pectin), insoluble-fermentable (resistant starch type IV) and insoluble-unfermentable (cellulose) fibre ingredients and their impact on pasta quality using Response Surface Methodology. The objective is to achieve an optimised mixture of fibre ingredients which can coexist within a pasta matrix while maintaining quality characteristics comparable to traditional semolina pasta. The optimised pasta is high in fibre, with a 125% increase in DF compared to the control pasta. The partial replacement of semolina with fibre ingredients and the addition of the vital gluten did not impact the gluten network strength, but reduced gluten network development time by 68.1% compared to the control pasta (no fibre addition). This resulted in a fibre-enriched pasta which had a lower water uptake (-21%), comparable swelling index (+8%) and cooking loss (+1.34%), and an improved texture profile. Additionally, the fibre-fortified pasta showed a lower release of reducing sugars during in-vitro starch digestion and positive sensory characteristics. This study demonstrates how the combination of various types of fibre ingredients in a pasta system can help bridge the fibre gap.