FIELD OF INVENTION.

The present invention relates to a composition of food and its preparation using treated fenugreek as a nutrient.

PRIOR ART:

Fenugreek is known to be used traditionally in many medicinal preparations and also on diabetic patients. However most of the prior art simply teaches the addition of fenugreek or a combination with fenugreek.

The present invention relates to a novel composition of food and its preparation using fenugreek as a nutrient.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION:

The main object of the invention is to develop a fenugreek powder that lacks the bitterness and odor and a method of preparing such a fenugreek powder from fenugreek seeds.

Yet another object of the invention is to prepare a fenugreek powder that comprises atleast 50% galactomannan.

Yet another object of the invention is to treat the obtained fenugreek powder resulting in soluble dietary fiber fraction containing atleast 80% galactomannan.

Yet another object of the invention is to develop a process of incorporating the fenugreek fiber fraction into food products.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION:

Fenugreek (Trigonella Foenum-gracium) an annual leguminous herb possesses wonderful medicinal values. The seeds have been used traditionally used different parts of the world for its well known carminative, galactogouge, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, insulinotropic, and rejuvenating effects. Fenugreek being a natural spice product is safe in consumption in all forms and in different doses.

Fenugreek can be orally administered and its health benefits can be obtained by the consumer when treated fenugreek is incorporated into foods and consumed and more so easily when the treated fenugreek is without the undesired bitterness and odor.

As per the invention, the process of treating raw fenugreek and the method of preparing a substantially pure soluble galactomannan fiber from fenugreek is disclosed herein. The said method comprises of destoning the said fenugreek seeds. Thereafter multiple milling steps are repeated. The first milling is done for the purpose of crushing and arriving at a particular particle size with a sieve. Then a second impact milling is done wherein the outer coat of the seeds are substantially eliminated. Sieving is repeated. Thereafter milling is repeated for the third time wherein it is powdered into fine preparation. At the end of this process a prepared powdered fenugreek is achieved which possess at least 70% galactomannan.

The said prepared fenugreek seeds are further extracted. The extraction is done two steps. In the first step the prepared powdered fenugreek hexane is used for the extraction followed with a second extraction with Isopropyl alcohol. Then the content is oven dried wherein about 86.63% of the dietary fiber is obtained. This dietary fiber obtained contains soluble fiber content in the range of 61.77% weight of the total fiber content and the purity of the final product is about 80%, thereby ensuring a presence of atleast 80% of galactomannan. The resulting product is referred to as treated fenugreek fiber.

The above process is novel due to the its simple, inexpensive method that has given a faster result than known in prior art and has resulted in achieving higher purity of soluble dietary fiber for human and animal consumptions. The fiber fractions containing 80% galactomannan prepared in the said manner when combined with foods has shown to decrease the Glycemic Index (Gl) values significantly on consumption.

In the practice, rice lentil mix treated with 0.1% to 20% of the above treated fenugreek fiber has resulted in substantial reduction of the Gl values in humans. Wheat flour treated with 0.1 to 20% of the treated fenugreek fiber has also resulted in substantial reduction of Gl values in humans. Thus the treated fenugreek fiber is a useful composition to be added to the regular food preparations for human consumption capable of being used as a nutrient and also as an agent for controlling the glycemic value in the consumer.

The end product is the fenugreek powder which is the desired dietary fiber which is debitterized and deodorized.

The extracted dietary fiber in one aspect is high in galactomannan which is not less than 50% thereby making the fiber useful in food preparations and pharmaceutical preparations. The extracted fenugreek with galactomannan rich fiber fraction has a high viscosity and binding properties.

The extracted dietary fiber in another aspect is high in galactomannan which is not less than 80% thereby making the fiber useful in food preparations and pharmaceutical preparations. The extracted fenugreek with galactomannan rich fiber fraction has a high viscosity and binding properties.

As such the present invention in one aspect is to provide a novel method to obtain a soluble fiber rich fraction from fenugreek seeds and a fenugreek extract with galactomannan not less than 50%.

As such the present invention in another aspect is to provide a novel method to obtain a soluble fiber rich fraction from fenugreek seeds and a fenugreek extract with galactomannan not less than 80%.

Furthermore the dietary fiber may be incorporated into food preparations in appropriate amounts so as to not change the original taste of food sufficient enough to influence the consumer's metabolism.
Glycemic Index (Gl) [Mean ± *SEM] of control and test foods

Methodology and protocol is given herein

Thirteen healthy volunteers aged between 20-50 years were recruited from the volunteer roster of Glycemic Index Testing Centre - Madras Diabetic Research Foundation. People volunteering to participate in the study were excluded if they were overweight, dieting, had a family history of diabetes, suffering from any illness or food allergy or on regular medications.

Volunteers who were not familiar with blood sampling via finger-pricking (capillary blood sampling) performed a practice test to acquaint them with the procedure and to control for the effects of anxiety on blood glucose response. All volunteers underwent 3 days of reference food testing and 6 days for the test foods in random order with at least 2 days gap between measurements to minimize carry over effects.

Volunteers visited the Gl testing centre each day in the morning after a 10-12 hr overnight fast. Brief questionnaire on previous meal (24hr recall), physical activity, smoking, alcohol and caffeine containing drinks were obtained to ensure that the volunteers maintained the same diet and physical activity on pre-test dates and refrained from smoking and alcohol during study period. However if any volunteer had violated these then he/she were rescheduled for testing. Fasting blood samples were taken at -5 min and 0 min before consumption of the food and the baseline value taken as a mean of these two values by finger-prick, using an automatic lancet device.

The volunteers then consumed a test meal, [the first bite in the mouth is set as time 0 and the first blood sample is taken conventionally at exactly 15 min afterwards] and further blood samples (capillary for glucose) were obtained at 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 minutes after the start of the test meal. Volunteers were given a 200 ml of water along with the test food and an extra 200 ml was given during the subsequent 2h.

Test and Reference Foods

Available carbohydrates estimated by direct method, proximate and total dietary fiber were also estimated at the Food Quality Analysis lab in Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (Annexure 1). The available carbohydrate content of 100g of control and test foods was for phulka 51.98g and 47.85g; 27.63g and 26.2g for idly; 8.41 g and 8.0g for oats thick porridge with and without treated fenugreek as per invention and 3.49g for curds given with oats porridge. A 50g of glucose dissolved in 200ml of water was used as the reference food.

Table 1: Details of Controls and test foods containing 50g Available Carbohydrate

Data analysis of Rice pan cake (Idly)

Out of the 13 volunteers who participated in the study, all the 13 volunteers were considered for the study. Gl values of individuals were calculated according to the method recommended by FAO/WHO 1i 2. The Incremental Area Under the blood glucose of test and reference foods were calculated geometrically using the trapezoid rule, ignoring the area below the fasting baseline45. The mean and standard errors (SEM) of the IAUC for the reference and test foods were calculated. Gl values were calculated by expressing each subject's IAUC after the test food as a percentage of the same subject's mean reference IAUC. The mean of the resulting values were the Gl of the respective test food. The above method was followed for Phulka and Oats with thick porridge.

Gl value of test food (%) = Blood glucose IAUC value for the test food X 100
IAUC value of the reference food

RESULTS

Table2: Mean IAUC of reference and Individual Gl of Idly control and Idly test foods.

*SEM: Standard Error of Mean

Data analysis of Phulka

Out of the 13 volunteers who participated in the study, individual's Gl > mean ± 2SD (Unrepresentative response) was considered as outlier (n=2). Hence a total of 11 volunteers were considered for the calculation of Gl.

Table3: Mean IAUC of reference and Individual Gl of Phulka control and Phulka test foods.

*SEM: Standard Error of Mean Data analysis of Oats thick porridge

Out of the 13 volunteers who participated in the study, individual's Gl > mean ± 2SD (Unrepresentative response) was considered as outlier (n=2). Hence a total of 11 volunteers were considered for the calculation of Gl. In addition 1 volunteer due to unforeseen reasons could not complete the Gl testing of oats with and without treated fenugreek as per invention, hence for the calculation of oats Gl only data of 10 volunteers was considered.

Table4: Mean IAUC of reference and Individual Gl of Oats thick porridge control and Oats thick porridge test foods.
*SEM: Standard Error of Mean

Our studies conclude that treated fenugreek as per the invention brings down Gl with high level of significance. Oats thick porridge (with curds) with treated fenugreek (43.43 + 7) could be successfully developed to be a LOW Gl food owing to the method and the product described earlier. Further rice containing preparation which was a HIGH Gl food (86.02 ± 5.4) turned to be a MEDIUM Gl food with treated fenugreek (60.57±7). The wheat based treated fenugreek preparation showed a significant drop in Gl that had shown results in proximity to LOW Gl food (53.83 ± 4.3).

As such the effectiveness of the treated fenugreek has been sufficiently established by the results given above all of which have been determined by careful monitoring and using conventional methods.

It is stated that the invention is not limited to the disclosed compositions and methods of preparation but invention includes all the variations that can be achieved without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure given in the specification.

WE CLAIM:

1. A method of preparing a high soluble galactomannan fibre from raw fenugreek , the said method comprising the steps of a de-stoning the said fenugreek seeds, b milling the said raw fenugreek seeds for crushing the seed to a first

predetermined particle size, c sieving the crushed fenugreek seeds for separating the outer coat endocarp of

said seeds, d Repeating the step b plurality of times for further crushing the crushed seeds until obtaining a second predetermined particle size thereby forming powdered fenugreek

which is characterized with atleast 70% galactomannan. e extracting the powdered fenugreek with hexane, f further extracting with Isopropyl alcohol to form dietary fibre, g oven drying to obtain 86.63% of dietary fibre which dietary fibre is characterized

containing soluble fibre content in the range of 61.77% weight of the total fibre content with atleast 80% of galactomannan.

2. A food composition comprising of

a. food and

b. treated fenugreek fibre of claim 1.