Investigation of nutritional and functional properties of extruded corn snacks with bran addition

Corn snacks are commonly produced and consumed snack foods. The nutritional and functional properties of extruded snacks that were produced using corn semolina are rather poor. In this study, the effects of wheat bran addition to extruded corn snack formulation were investigated. For this purpose, the extrusion conditions were first optimized using Central Composite Design - Response Surface Methodology (CCD-RSM), based on the physical properties of the products (hardness, crispness, brittleness, expansion rate, apparent density and porosity). Upon optimization, the best extruded snack production conditions were determined (moisture content of the mixture 14%, die temperature 120°C, bran: corn semolina ratio 10%, corn starch: bran + corn semolina ratio 10%) and the results were verified via experimental studies. Then, the bran ratio of the mixture was gradually increased from 10% to 22% and 5 different extruded snacks with varying bran contents (10%, 13%, 16%, 19% and 22% bran) were produced . Chemical composition (moisture, protein, fat and ash) and nutritional properties (phytic acid, dietary fiber, total phenolic substance and total antioxidant capacity) of the extruded corn snacks with bran additions (ECSwBA) were determined. The addition of bran at the optimized rate (%10) positively affected the physical properties of extruded corn snacks. Further increase in the bran addition partially weakened the physical properties of corn snacks. However, as the bran addition ratio increased, the nutritional and functional properties of the extruded corn snacks increased significantly.