Manel Masmoudi
Fatma Abbès
Souhail Besbes
Christophe Blecker
Hamadi Attia
Abstract
Dietary fibers constitute an important element of a healthy diet. This study is a contribution to valorize Tunisian lemon (Citrus limon L.) by-products (LB) by preparation of a lemon fiber concentrate (LFC). The suitability of this by-product as a source of dietary fiber for food enrichment was investigated. Lemon fiber concentrate was prepared by LB washing in water at 90 °C for 5 min and then characterized by studying its physico-chemical, functional and antioxidant properties, in comparison with the original LB.
The extraction method led to a total dietary fiber yield of 54.42 g/100g. LFC had higher content in total fibers than LB (71.20 versus 63.87 g/100g dry matter (DM), respectively), with predominance of the insoluble fraction (53.58 g/100g DM). LFC had also better functional properties, with higher water holding capacity (13.92 versus 8.51 g/g, respectively), swelling capacity (14 versus 8.75 ml/g, respectively) and oil retention property (6.6 versus 4.43 g/g, respectively). LFC had high content in bioactive compounds, particularly for phenolics (561.09 mg GAE/100 g DM) and flavonoids (408.42 mg QE/ 100 g DM), which gave it good antioxidant properties (antiradical activity: 45.57 % and reducing power: 0.18). The results of this study suggested that LFC may have potential applications for food enrichment.
Keywords
Lemon by-product; Fiber concentrate; Physico-chemical; Antioxidant activity; Functional properties
