Treatment with hydrogen peroxide improves the physicochemical properties of dietary fibres from Chinese yam peel

Yam is a common 'medicine food homology' vegetable in Asia, and its peel is often considered a food residue during processing or cooking. In this work, the effects of hydrogen peroxide modification on the dietary fibres (DFs) from Chinese yam peel (CYP) were investigated. The structural characteristics of soluble dietary fibre (SDF), insoluble dietary fibre (IDF), modified soluble dietary fibre (MSDF) and modified insoluble dietary fibre (MIDF) were analysed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, granularity analysis, scanning electron microscopy and GC-MS (monosaccharide composition). As results, after modification with hydrogen peroxide, the sizes of the DFs were reduced and MIDF exposed more cellulose. Experiments on the physicochemical and functional properties of DFs showed that MSDF and MIDF obtained a better water holding capacity, oil absorption capacity, swelling capacity and absorption abilities with altered structures, which is of great importance in food processing and development.