Arabinoxylans

Arabinoxylans are major noncellulosic polysaccharides of cell walls in cereal grains. Technologically, arabinoxylans are important because of their viscosity-enhancing, gel formation, water absorption, emulsion and foam stabilizing, film making, and fat replacing properties. They have considerable importance in cereal-based processes including milling, bread making, brewing, and animal feed production. Their application has been extended nowadays to film-forming agents, cryostabilizers, surface active, and water-binding agents as well as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. As constituents of dietary fiber, arabinoxylans have an impact on the nutritional quality of cereal foods; they offer nutritional benefits of soluble and insoluble fiber, and because of the presence of phenolic moieties in their molecular structures, they may also have some antioxidant properties. Arabinoxylans and arabino-xylooligosaccharides may enhance the growth of potentially health-promoting bacteria. With rising awareness of the health benefits and palatability of arabinoxylans, there is an increase in demand for arabinoxylan-enriched products.