The physiological functions of flaxseed gum and its application in food

June 04, 2024

01
Flaxseed

Flaxseed, also known as flaxseed, is the seed of the herbaceous plant flax and has been used as food and medicine for over 5000 years. Flaxseed is rich in nutrients, including a large amount of unsaturated fatty acids, flaxseed gum (dietary fiber), lignans, flavonoids, proteins, amino acids, mineral elements, vitamins and other nutrients.

Flaxseed oil, which is made from flaxseed as a raw material, is an important ingredient for supplementing Ω -3 fatty acids, with a high selling price and a health food image. But many people are unaware that flaxseed contains all the fatty acids of flaxseed oil, as well as many nutrients lost during oil extraction. For example, protein, dietary fiber, various B vitamins, mineral elements such as calcium, iron, and zinc.

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02
Physiological functions of flaxseed gum

1. Hypoglycemic and lipid-lowering activity

There have been reports on the improvement of glucose and lipid metabolism by flaxseed gum.
Au et al. found that adding 0.7% flaxseed gum to dairy beverages as a substrate can significantly improve postprandial blood glucose responses in healthy rats.
Kristensen et al. found that flaxseed gum can reduce blood cholesterol levels and increase fecal fat secretion in healthy young participants, but this effect is related to the characteristics of the food system in which flaxseed gum is located. Kristensen et al. also found that flaxseed gum can inhibit postprandial blood lipid levels and appetite in young male participants, but has no effect on subsequent energy intake.
The above improvement effects of flaxseed gum on postprandial blood lipids and blood glucose are based on healthy test animals or people, but whether flaxseed gum can exert its hypoglycemic and blood lipid activities under specific pathophysiological conditions, such as obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes, still needs further research to confirm.

2. Regulating gut microbiota and weight loss effects

Flaxseed gum, as a water-soluble dietary fiber, is crucial for regulating gut microbiota and inhibiting obesity. The preliminary in vitro experimental results confirmed that flaxseed gum has a high ability to bind bile acids and induce the production of short chain fatty acids in the intestine, thereby demonstrating the potential to reduce intestinal cholesterol absorption.
Recent studies have found that appropriate intake of flaxseed gum can inhibit the obesity effect in high-fat fed rats, and its mechanism of action is related to inhibiting the abundance of intestinal Firmicutes and the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes, and regulating the growth of specific bacterial groups such as Clostridium.

3. The effect of modification on the nutritional characteristics of flaxseed gum

In order to further improve the nutritional characteristics and application scope of flaxseed gum, research on the moderate degradation of flaxseed gum is gradually being carried out.
Du Muxiang et al. used Fenton oxidation method to degrade flaxseed gum and obtained a low molecular weight flaxseed gum Fe (taro) composite, which can form a stable crystal network structure based on covalent or coordinated binding.
This composite can effectively sustainably release Fe3+in a non Fe3+diffusion form, providing a new approach for flaxseed gum to serve as a carrier for iron and other nutritional supplements, and expanding its application range.
The research team also obtained flaxseed gum oligosaccharides (FGOS) with a polymerization degree of 2-6 using hydrogen peroxide oxidation method. Compared with flaxseed gum, FGOS can further improve its Fe3+reduction ability, superoxide anion scavenging ability (72.93%), and lipid oxidation inhibition ability (82.76%).

The results of the in vitro proliferation experiment of lactic acid bacteria showed that FGOS can effectively promote the growth of Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus fermentans, Lactobacillus plantarum, and Lactobacillus paracasei, and promote the generation of short chain fatty acids.

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03
The application of flaxseed gum in food

1. Improve the quality of dairy products

Flaxseed gum can be applied in dairy products, not only improving the physicochemical properties of yogurt, but also increasing the nutritional value of the product.
Research has shown that the addition of flaxseed gum can increase the adhesion of stirred yogurt, reduce its adhesiveness and hardness, without affecting its storage stability. Flaxseed gum can also replace commercial coating agent polyvinyl acetate, but has no significant effect on the growth of lactic acid bacteria and mesophilic aerobic bacteria, protein hydrolysis, lipolysis, and sensory evaluation during the ripening process of cheddar cheese.

2. Improve the quality of meat products

Flaxseed gum can be used as a food additive in low-temperature meat products. The addition of flaxseed gum can improve the thermal stability and gel structure stability of meat protein, myofibrillar protein and salt soluble meat protein, which mainly depends on the electrostatic interaction between flaxseed gum and meat protein.
The addition of flaxseed gum can also enhance the gel network structure of low salt meat paste, improve its emulsification stability, and thus improve the quality deterioration caused by low salt conditions. In addition, flaxseed gum and compound starch added to quick frozen pork balls can significantly improve the elasticity, water retention and yield of quick frozen pork balls.

3. Improve the quality of ice cream and jelly products

Flaxseed gum has good compatibility with other edible gums and can be used in the production of nutritional jelly. It was found that flaxseed gum could improve the gel strength, elasticity and water retention of jelly. On the basis of the theoretical research on the regulation of gut microbiota and weight loss effect of flaxseed gum, Mai Yunshi mixed flaxseed gum with carrageenan and xanthan gum to obtain a compound jelly product with weight loss effect.

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2024-06-04

Shaanxi Huike Botanical Development Co., Ltd.

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