Complex of polyphenols sorbed on buckwheat flour as a functional food ingredient

An innovative approach to creating a new generation of specialised foods for dietary therapy of type 2 diabetes can involve planned adding of plant polyphenols to their formulafions. The marked antioxidant properties of polyphenols largely determine their potential antidiabetic effects. However, the use of food polyphenols for prophylactic purposes is limited by their low bioavailability, which makes it expedient to search for technological approaches aimed at obtaining polyphenolic matrices with high biological activity, increased digestibility, and stability. This study objective was to purposely extract and concentrate the polyphenols by sorbing them from an aqueous solution of the bilberry leaf extract (BLE) on buckwheat flour and to assess their storage stability. A number of experiments on optimal parameters selection for sorbing polyphenols from the BLE on buckwheat flour were performed. The parameters included the concentration of the extract solution, the solution/sorbent ratio, the pH of the solution, the temperature and the time of sorption. The sorption on the polyphenol matrix was determined from the difference in their contents in the initial solution of the extract and in the supernatant after centrifugation by the Folin-Ciocalteu method. The effects of exposure to light, temperatures, and humidity on the polyphenol compounds in the dry BLE and in the food matrix contents during storage was analysed by the FTIR spectroscopy. The experiments determined the optimal conditions for the BLE polyphenol sorption on buckwheat flour by incubation of a 2% BLE solution pH = 3.6 with the portion of buckwheat flour at the ratio of 1g/50 cm3 solution for 45 minutes at 25°C. When storing the food matrix, there was no significant degradation of the polyphenolic compounds in the food matrix, which indicates an increase in the stability of the polyphenols sorbed on buckwheat flour. This paper presents the results that are scientifically and practically relevant for the nutritiology experts who devise promising technological approaches to expanding the range of functional food ingredients of the antidiabetic character.