The authors acknowledge the subjects, researchers, sponsors, and the entire KDHS team that participated in the 1998, 2003, and 2008-2009 surveys. The authors declare that they have no competing interests. “
“Amaranth has recently become a focus of interest for its high nutritive values and great potential as a functional food given its cholesterol-lowering effect observed in animal models (∗Mendonça et al., 2009 and ∗Plate and Arêas, 2002). Despite its nutritional and health importance, amaranth flour has not gained sufficient research attention to its physicochemical properties. Nevertheless, some hydration and thermal properties

of individual amaranth components (protein, fiber, starch) have been widely discussed in the literature (Kong et al., 2009 and Martínez

and Añón, 1996; Olaparib mw Repo-Carrasco-Valencia, Peña, Kallio, & Salminen, 2009). Studies investigating the properties of amaranth flour are scarce, e.g. examining it as a complex system. It is known that the extrapolation of data on individual components to infer the behavior of more complex systems such as flours can be misleading because interactions among components could be overlooked (Sandoval, Nuñez, Muller, Della Vale, & Lourdin, 2009). While the native flour presents a particular Selleckchem HDAC inhibitor behavior, cooked flour could be more advantageous for application in food products due to its instantaneous characteristics. In order to obtain cooked flour, thermoplastic extrusion can be used. This is a versatile and very efficient technology, widely used in grain processing and has become a well established industrial technology, with a number of food and feed applications (Cheftel, 1986). A wide range of thermo-mechanical and thermo-chemical processes are involved, including shear, Maillard reactions, starch gelatinization, protein denaturation and Adenosine triphosphate hydrolysis. These processes result in the physical, chemical and nutritional modification of food constituents (Arêas, 1992). Moreover, the extrusion of amaranth resulted in a ready-to-eat snack with a better nutritional value compared to traditional snacks

made from maize (∗Chávez-Jáuregui et al., 2000 and Chávez-Jáuregui et al., 2003). Only a few studies have reported the extrusion cooking of pure amaranth or of amaranth blended with other grains. Despite this lack of data, extruded amaranth flour may possibly serve as a useful alternative in highly nutritious food products and could also improve the physicochemical, functional and sensory characteristics of products. In addition, the functional properties of native and extruded amaranth flour have not been reported. Against this background, the present investigation was undertaken to examine hydration and thermal properties of native and extruded amaranth flour in order to identify their potential application as food ingredients.