The effect of rice bran on physicochemical, textural and glycaemic properties of ready-to-eat extruded corn snacks

In this work, corn extruded snack products were enriched with rice bran (RB) at 10 and 15%. A co-rotating twin screw extruder was used with a feed moisture content of 16 g 100 g-1, a screw speed of 240 rpm and four heating sections of the barrel (100, 140, 150 and 150 °C). The impact of RB inclusion on nutritional profile, starch digestion, physicochemical and textural properties of snack products was evaluated. RB-enriched extrudates showed a lower specific volume and hardness, and higher crispness than control. RB at 15% gave a water holding capacity lower than control. Rheology of extrudate dispersions indicated an increase in elastic interactions and solid-like behaviour with RB supplementation. Differences in rheological properties resulted in attenuation of predictive glycaemic response for RB enriched snacks.