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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Food Processing and Sensory Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #398621

Research Project: Nutritional Benefits of Health-Promoting Rice and Value-Added Foods

Location: Food Processing and Sensory Quality Research

Title: Consumer perceptions and antioxidant profiling of acidified cold-brewed sorghum bran beverages

Author
item Ardoin, Ryan
item Smith, Brennan
item Lea, Jeanne
item Boue, Stephen
item Smolensky, Dmitriy
item SANTANA, ADINA - Kansas State University
item Peterson, Jaymi

Submitted to: Journal of Food Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/9/2023
Publication Date: 5/2/2023
Citation: Ardoin, R.P., Smith, B., Lea, J.M., Boue, S.M., Smolensky, D., Santana, A.L., Peterson, J.M. 2023. Consumer perceptions and antioxidant profiling of acidified cold-brewed sorghum bran beverages. Journal of Food Science. 88(6):2301-2312. https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-3841.16589.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-3841.16589

Interpretive Summary: There is a growing market for functional food products, which provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. The bran layer of grains like sorghum and rice are removed during milling, but still contain valuable health-promoting compounds. Some of these compounds, such as tannins, have shown health benefits in the human body, but they can make foods taste bitter. This research developed cold-brewed beverages (a sweetened and an unsweetened version) from sorghum bran and investigated their antioxidant properties and acceptability to consumers. The beverages contained several beneficial compounds that were present in the bran, and exhibited antioxidant ability. The sweetened beverage was clearly preferred by consumers, and sweetness reduced bitter taste in the beverage. Although most participants had never consumed sorghum before, consumers were more likely to purchase the beverages after learning that they were made with sorghum which contains antioxidants. This study demonstrated that a shelf-stable beverage with health-promoting properties could be made from sorghum bran, and that consumers responded favorably to its sweetness and antioxidant claim. This product development model can be applied to other grains with health-promoting bran, such as rice.

Technical Abstract: Sumac sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) bran contains polyphenolic compounds which exhibit antioxidant and other health-promoting activities. Value can be added to bran through functional food product development, but may be limited by bitterness. A cold-brewed shelf-stable sorghum beverage was developed using commercially available sumac sorghum bran. Sweetened (SB) and unsweetened (UB) formulations were analyzed for total phenolic content, phenolic profiles (HPLC), condensed tannins, and in vitro antioxidant activity (ORAC and DPPC). Consumers (N=100) were grouped by 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) taster status (for bitterness sensitivity), and rated their liking of sensory attributes, bitterness intensity, and purchase intent (PI) of beverages. Beverages contained tannins and other flavonoids extracted from the bran and demonstrated measurable antioxidant capacity. SB clearly outperformed UB in affective sensory testing, and neither acceptability nor bitterness perceptions were affected by consumers’ PROP taster status. Sweetness of SB suppressed bitterness of the beverage. Sorghum was a novel food source for the consumer sample, and positive PI increased to 56% for SB after delivery of a message indicating antioxidant-containing sorghum use. Increased familiarity and effective antioxidant messaging can improve liking and PI of a novel sweetened sorghum bran beverage. These results justify further development and testing of bioactive potential.