Impact of natural functional ingredients on physicochemical and functional properties of udon noodles

Udon noodles are a traditional staple food and have an important role in a high-starch diet. Aiming to generate a low glycemic index and high antioxidant activity by adding natural functional ingredients with health benefits, a special noodle recipe was developed consisting of glucomannan from Amorphophallus muelleri Blume, Aloe vera, and Moringa oleifera leaves. The noodle recipe was selected from the top three highest sensory quality scores of 15 noodle recipes from a mixture design analysis. The internal structure indicated an even distribution of carbohydrates, proteins and fats as compared to the control. The sample with a high content of Aloe vera exhibited the highest gumminess value (3.48 N) of the noodles. The sensory quality of all the samples showed that an increase in moringa leaves resulted in lower acceptance scores. The sample with the highest content of moringa leaves showed that it exhibited the lowest DPPH-IC50 (44.05 mg/mL). The sample with the highest content of glucomannan showed a significantly lower estimated glycemic index (eGI) with the medium eGI (67.35 out of 100). The αglucosidase inhibitory activity of the sample with the highest content of moringa leaves (1,000 µg/mL) was able to inhibit α-glucosidase activity by 19.73%. Hence, adding starch replacers with functional properties can lead to the sustainable production of healthy udon noodles as a specialty starchy food