4] Oat processing

WP leader: Cecilia Tullberg cecilia.tullberg@biotek.lu.se

ScanOats is making optimal use of the oat raw material to develop new healthy oat products. Mild processing through combinations of novel biotechnological processes and efficient separation steps enables the production of purified components without damaging the raw material. Some products will contain a large portion of the raw material, while others will be more purified products to be used as food and feed ingredients or for other applications, for example for cosmetics or pharmaceuticals.

ScanOats is building on the cutting-edge knowledge on biotechnological process steps of the academic partners and the extensive knowledge on oat processing of the industrial partners. Processing is set up with a focus on carbohydrates, lipids and proteins and the processing is monitored by chemical analysis, by functional analysis and concerning effects on the human gut microbiota.

Carbohydrate processing

Oats is a rich source of hemicellulosic arabinoxylan. Recent research has shown that arabinoxylan and oligosaccharides derived thereof have substantial health promoting effects, mainly by favoring the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract. This prebiotic effect depends on the size and structure of the arabinoxylan fragments. ScanOats is using enzymatic processing to elucidate the structure of oat arabinoxylan and to optimise their health effects.

Lipid processing

Oats is known to contain more lipids than other cereals and the galactolipids constitute a lipid group of particular interest. These have been shown to have valuable properties as surfactants and in some cases promising health-promoting effects. ScanOats is building on many years of experience in lipid research to optimize the oat galactolipids for various applications.

Protein processing

Oat proteins are valuable both from nutritional point of view and for acting as emulsifiers or gel formers in food products. To work well in the latter respect it would be advantageous if the solubility of the oat proteins could be increased. ScanOats is using in-house capacities for enzymating processing to modulate the functional properties of the oat proteins.

Effects of oat components on the human gut microbiota

In vitro bioreactor systems is used to simulate the human gastrointestinal tract with the aim to study the effect of oat products and oat components on the composition of the human gut microbiota. The carbohydrate components are of special importance for evaluation in this type of system, however, recent research has shown that also lipids have a profound influence on the composition of the gut microbiota and will thus also be of interest to study.

Pre- and synbiotics

Prebiotic and synbiotic concepts for oat products are being developed by ScanOats. Formulations are set up where different liquid and refined tailored oat products are blended and introduced to selected probiotic strains for evaluation of metabolic effects. Viability of selected strains, and effect of synbiotic mixtures will be assessed using the gut simulator followed by evaluation of promising alternatives.

To know more about oat processing, you can read these articles:

Berger, K., Falck, P., Linninge, C., Nilsson, U., Axling, U., Grey, C., Stalbrand, H., Karlsson, E. N., Nyman, M., Holm, C., & Adlercreutz, P. (2014). Cereal Byproducts Have Prebiotic Potential in Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 62(32), 8169-8178. Link

Decker, E. A., Rose, D. J., & Stewart, D. (2014). Processing of oats and the impact of processing operations on nutrition and health benefits. British Journal of Nutrition, 112(S2), S58-S64. Link

Doehlert, D. C., Moreau, R. A., Welti, R., Roth, M. R., & McMullen, M. S. (2010). Polar Lipids from Oat Kernels. Cereal Chemistry, 87(5), 467-474. Link

Falck, P., Aronsson, A., Grey, C., Staalbrand, H., Nordberg Karlsson, E., & Adlercreutz, P. (2014). Production of arabinoxylan-oligosaccharide mixtures of varying composition from rye bran by a combination of process conditions and type of xylanase. Bioresource Technology, 174, 118-125. Link

Lehtinen, P., & Laakso, S. (2004). Role of lipid reactions in quality of oat products. Agric. Food Sci., 13(1-2), 88-99. Tosh, S. M., & Chu, Y. F. (2015). Systematic review of the effect of processing of whole-grain oat cereals on glycaemic response. British Journal of Nutrition, 114(8), 1256-1262. Link