Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 30 (4) December 2018, p. 591-601

FORMULATION OF A LOW GLYCEMIC BINDER FORTIFIED WITH PALM VITAMIN E (tocotrienol-rich fraction) FOR FUNCTIONAL GRANOLA BARS

WAN SUET YING*; NOOR LIDA HABI MAT DIAN**; HELMI WASOH* and LAI OI MING*

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2018.0049
Published Online: 6 December 2018
ABSTRACT

A granola bar is the combination of dry ingredients and a wet binder compressed into a bar form and is an excellent vehicle for delivering bioactive compounds to consumers. Sugar is one of the main components in granola bar binder, and it provides the sticky property and flavour to the granola bar. However, high sugar consumption can cause complications and health problems. This study focuses on the use of low glycemic natural sweeteners in the formulation of a granola bar binder and palm vitamin E (tocotrienol-rich fraction, TRF) as a potential fortifier to enhance the functionality of the granola bar while promoting health benefits, including cardioprotection, neuroprotection, as well as hypocholesterolemic, anti-cancer and antioxidant properties. An augmented simplex lattice design was used to develop the granola binder with natural low glycemic sweeteners (in response to °Brix), namely honey, date paste and coconut sugar. The desired °Brix was 80 to 85. The optimal range of sweeteners blend with the desired °Brix was 31.18% to 38.4% of honey, 7.25% to 9.43% of date paste and 24.65% to 32.63% of coconut sugar. Granola bars were prepared using three different sweetener formulations. Palm TRF was added to the selected binder formulation to enrich the vitamin E content in the finished product (granola bar). Honey and coconut sugar were responsible for the effect on °Brix of the binder, while date paste was the limiting factor that constrained °Brix. Granola bar with 15.22% honey, 4.71% date paste and 16.31% coconut sugar received sensory scoring which was significantly higher than for a commercial bar. The formulated granola bar which was enriched with 3.23 mg g-1 vitamin E had a proximate composition and caloric value comparable to that of the commercial granola bar.

KEYWORDS:


* Department of Bioprocess Technology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

** Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 6 Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
E-mail: nlida@mpob.gov.my