Food Chemistry: X 18 (2023) 100672

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Food Chemistry: X
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Effects of particle size on the structure, cooking quality and anthocyanin

diffusion of purple sweet potato noodles
Han Hu a, Xiang-Yu Zhou b, Ya-Shu Wang a, Yu-xin Zhang a, Wen-Hua Zhou a, Lin Zhang a, *
a
Hunan Key Laboratory of Processed Food for Special Medical Purpose, National Engineering Research Center of Rice and Byproduct Deep Processing, School of Food
Science and Technology, Central South University of Forestry & Technology, Changsha 410004, PR China
b
Faculty of Medical Science, Division of Medicine, University College London, WC1E 6BT, The United Kingdom

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The effects of different particle sizes of purple sweet potato flour (PSPF) on the structure and quality of noodles
Purple sweet potato and the diffusion kinetics of anthocyanins during cooking were studied. As the particle size of the PSPF decreased
Noodle quality (from 269 to 66 μm), the adverse effects of the addition of PSPF on the quality of noodles were reduced. The
Anthocyanins
smaller particle size of PSPF was beneficial for the secondary structure orderliness and the tighter microstructure
Kinetics
Diffusivity
of PSP noodles. The diffusion of anthocyanins in noodles to the soup during cooking could be fitted well with
Fick’s second law, and diffusion coefficients were in the range of 8.3248–14.0893 × 10-9 m2/s. The noodles with
15% 66 μm PSPF showed the best cooking properties, the highest sensory score, the highest anthocyanin
retention ability and a compact and orderly microstructure. Thus, they could be considered as noodles rich in
anthocyanins for commercial application.

1. Introduction
Noodles are a traditional staple food and the main source of energy
for many people around the world. Noodles prepared from refined
wheat flour offer better mouthfeel but are not rich in nutrition (Choo, &
Aziz, 2010). One important way to enhance the nutritional value of
noodles is through the incorporation of natural substances. For example,
ginkgo biloba powder was incorporated into noodles to increase the
content of flavonoids (Li, Zhou, & Wu, 2022), and grain bran was added
to increase the total phenolic content and antioxidant activity in noodles
(Levent, Koyuncu, & Bilgicli, 2020).
Purple sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) (PSP) is a special kind of sweet
potato that not only contains the nutrients of a regular sweet potato but
is also rich in anthocyanins, a group of flavonoids with a benzopyran
structure (Wang, Nie, & Zhu, 2016). Many studies have shown that
anthocyanins contribute to various health effects, such as antioxidative,
antiobesity, immunomodulatory, antiaging, antihyperglycemic, hep­
atoprotective, antimicrobial and cardiovascular effects (Jokioja et al.,
2020; Chen et al., 2020). A chronic placebo-controlled crossover study
(Dohadwala et al. 2011) suggested that 4 weeks of consumption of juice
containing anthocyanins improved endothelial function and reduced the
risk of cardiovascular disease. Cassidy et al. (2016) observed the dietary
habits of 43,880 men aged 32 to 81 over 24 years and found that
habitual intake of anthocyanins reduced the risk of nonfatal myocardial
infarction by 14%. According to the high content of anthocyanins, PSP
was prepared as purple sweet potato flour (PSPF) and added to foods to
provide unique color, flavor and nutrition. Cui and Zhu (2021) found
that PSPF improved the color, polyphenol content and antioxidant ac­
tivity of Chinese steamed bread. Wang et al. (2021) found that the
addition of purple sweet potato enhanced the structural properties and
reduced the digestibility of the rice product. However, few studies have
been conducted to investigate the influence of the particle size of PSPF
on the quality of noodles. There have been no studies on anthocyanin
diffusion behavior during noodle cooking.
Thermal processes such as boiling and blanching of cooking food
lead to the diffusion of naturally soluble components such as anthocy­
anins in food into hot water (Igoumenidis, Lekka, & Karathanos, 2016),
and diffusion may be a major cause of solute loss compared to thermal
oxidation and degradation (Selman, 1994; Delchier et al., 2012). By
fitting the Fick diffusion model, the diffusion rates of dissolved sub­
stances in food can be quantitatively calculated (Igoumenidis, Lekka, &
Karathanos, 2016). The current application of this law in the food sector
has focused on the calculation of the diffusion rates of active ingredients
in single crops, such as the diffusion of active ingredients in apple and

* Corresponding author at: Hunan Key Laboratory of Processed Food For Special Medical Purpose, National Engineering Laboratory for Rice and Byproduct Deep
Processing, School of Food Science and Engineering, Center South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, PR China.
E-mail address: zhanglin840514@126.com (L. Zhang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fochx.2023.100672
Received 25 November 2022; Received in revised form 17 March 2023; Accepted 1 April 2023
Available online 3 April 2023
2590-1575/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
H. Hu et al.
chickpeas (Simpson, Ramírez, & Birchmeier, 2015; Yildirim, Öner, &
Bayram, 2011). This work creatively attempts to analyze the diffusion
laws of polyphenols in the cooking processes of composite systems such
as PSP noodles (PSPN) and to study the effects of different formulas on
the diffusion rates of polyphenols.
In this study, PSPFs with different particle sizes were incorporated
into PSPN (no salt) formulations. The cooking properties, textural
properties, tensile properties, sensory evaluation, protein secondary
structure, starch short-range order and microstructure of noodles were
investigated. The diffusion law of anthocyanins during the noodle
cooking process was analyzed, and the diffusion coefficient was calcu­
lated. This study provides a reference for the development of noodle
products that are rich in polyphenols.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
PSP variety Mianzishu 9 was supplied by the Hunan Academy of
Agricultural Sciences (Hunan, China). Wheat flours were purchased
from Kaixue Grain & Oil Food Co., Ltd. (Hunan, China). KBr was pur­
chased from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd. (Beijing, China). KCl
and NaAc were purchased from Sigma–Aldrich (Shanghai) Trading Co.,
Ltd. (Shanghai, China). Hydrochloric acid (HCl) solution was purchased
from Xilong Scientific Co., Ltd. (Guangdong, China). All other chemical
reagents used were of analytical grade.
2.2. PSPF preparation
The PSPF was prepared with the method reported by Cui and Zhu
(2021) with slight modifications. The fresh PSP tubers were cleaned and
sliced into 2 mm thick slices. Then, the tubers were cooked, peeled, and
dehydrated in a cabinet dryer (101-3EBS, Yongguang Medical In­
struments Co., Ltd., Beijing, China) at 60 ◦ C with hot air circulation of
6,900 m3/h until the moisture was maintained at 6–10%. The dried PSP
tubers were crushed into powder in a pulverizer (FW-400A, Zhongxing
Weiye Instrument Co., Ltd., Beijing, China) at a speed of 26,000 r/min.
The resulting flour was subjected to stainless steel sieves of mesh sizes of
180, 140, and 100. After sieving, the PSPFs with different particle sizes
were collected in polyethylene bags, vacuum sealed with a heat sealer
and stored at 4 ◦ C.
2.3. Particle size distributions
Particle size distributions of PSPF and wheat flour were confirmed
through a particle size analyzer (LS 13320, Beckman Instruments, Inc.,
USA), and sizes were presented as Sauter mean diameter [D4,3 µm].
2.4. Chemical composition analyses
The moisture content of PSPF and wheat flour was determined using
a halogen rapid moisture analyzer (JH-HS, Yixind Instrument Co., Ltd.,
Jiangsu, China). The protein content was determined using the Kjeldahl
method with a Kjeltec K9840 analyzer (Haineng Instruments Co., Ltd,
Shandong, China) based on the Association of Official Analytical
Chemists (AOAC) method. The starch content, cellulose content and
total carbohydrate content were measured by a starch assay kit, cellu­
lose assay kit and total carbohydrate assay kit, which were purchased
from Solarbio Technology Co., Ltd, Beijing, China.
2.5. Preparation of PSPN
Depending on the results (Table S1, Figure S2a, Figure S3 and
Table S2) of the effects of different addition levels of PSPF on the
qualities of noodles, the optimum formulation of PSPN was determined
to be 85 g wheat flours, 15 g PSPF and 30 g deionized (DI) water.
2
Food Chemistry: X 18 (2023) 100672
For PSP dough (PSPD) preparation, wheat flour (85 g) was mixed
with PSPF (15 g) thoroughly. The mixed flour was placed in a Micro-
dough LAB (Micro-dough LAB 2800, Dachol Technologies, Stockholm,
Sweden) and the powder type was selected as “flour” with a water
content of 30 g per 100 g of flour. The apparatus was switched on for
mixing. When the maximum viscosity was reached, the dough was
considered to be prepared and removed immediately and wrapped in
plastic wrap.
The PSPD was placed into a self-sealing bag in an intelligent artificial
climate incubator (35 ℃) and allowed to stand for 30 min (PDR-150 A,
Ningbo Xinzhi Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Ningbo, China). In this study,
each formulated dough was prepared in duplicate. One of the doughs
was prepared for anthocyanin content analysis, and the other was rolled
with a small noodle roller machine (DHH-180 A, Yongkang Haiou
Electric Appliance Co., Ltd., Jinhua, China) five times to produce a
dough piece (thickness 1.5 mm). The dough piece was passed through
the noodle machine to obtain PSPN strands with dimensions of 3.0 mm
in width and 200.0 mm in length.
2.6. Cooking properties
Cooking properties of formulated noodles were determined with the
method.
reported by Li, Zhou, and Wu (2022) with slight modifications. First,
PSPNs (20 pieces) were cooked in boiling water (500 mL). Noodles were
removed every 30 s during cooking, cut into short 1 cm strips and
squeezed with a transparent glass plate. The time when the white core
disappeared was recorded as the optimum cooking time.
Then, a 10 g PSPN sample (20 cm in length) was placed into 400 mL
of boiling water until the optimum cooking time. The well-cooked
PSPNs were drained with filter paper and weighed with a microbal­
ance. Water absorption was calculated as the percentage increase in the
weight of the cooked noodles compared to the weight of uncooked
noodles. Noodle soup was collected in a volumetric flask and diluted to
400 mL with DI water. Then, 100 mL of solution was placed into an
aluminum box and dried to a constant weight. Cooking loss was calcu­
lated as the percentage of dry matter lost during cooking with respect to
uncooked PSPN weight.
2.7. Texture profile analysis and tensile strength analysis
Texture profile analysis (TPA) of cooked PSPN was performed using a
texture analyzer (TA-XT2i, Stable Micro System Ltd., UK) with the
method described by Tan et al. (2018) with some modifications. The
noodles were placed into 500 mL of boiling water until the optimum
cooking time and then immediately rinsed with cold water for 1 min. Six
replicates of noodles were evaluated within 5 min after cooling. The
noodles were placed on a flat metal plate and measured with a cylin­
drical probe (P/36R, 36 mm). TPA was set to a pretest speed of 2.0 mm/
s, test speed of 0.8 mm/s, posttest speed of 2.0 mm/s, strain of 70%, and
interval time of 1 s. The mean value of six replications was used.
Tensile strength analysis (TSA) was performed with another Code A/
SPR probe. Parameters were set as follows: pretest speed of 2.0 mm/s,
test speed of 2.0 mm/s, posttest speed of 10.0 mm/s, and distance of 80
mm. The tensile strength and distance were detected. The tensile
strength was expressed as the ratio of the force acting on the noodles to
the cross-sectional area of the noodles.
2.8. Sensory evaluation
The sensory evaluations of cooked PSPN were determined with the
method reported by Sun et al. (2019) with slight modifications. The
evaluations were carried out by a trained panel of 30 panelists (15 fe­
males and 15 males, 23–52 years old) selected from the School of Food
Science and Technology. All panelists passed the basic taste test, the
odor test and the color vision test, and their evaluation ability was
H. Hu et al. Food Chemistry: X 18 (2023) 100672

routinely checked using individual control cards for each panelist. The Table 1
panel was particularly familiarized with the sensory assessment of Particle size distribution and nutrient distributions of WF and PSPF sieved
diverse wheat products. The PSPNs were cooked until the optimal through different sieves.
cooking time, and 10 g cooked noodles were tasted by each panelist. The Sample Size Moisture Total Starch Protein Cellulose
evaluation finished within 15 min, and the mouths of the sensory panel (D4,3 (%) carbohydrate (g/ (g/100 (g/100
panelists were rinsed with spring water between samples. All samples μm) (μmol/g) 100 g) g) g)

were coded in random order and evaluated on a 9-point hedonic scale (1: WF 80 ± 13.58 ± 9.20 ± 1.30c 67.24 17.24 1.51 ±
extremely disgusted, 5: neither liked nor disliked, 9: extremely liked). 2c 0.08a ± ± 0.04d
0.22a 0.56a
PSPF 269 6.62 ± 19.82 ± 43.44 3.44 ± 2.73 ±
2.9. Scanning electron microscopy mesh ± 0a 0.27d 0.22a ± 0.02b 0.01a
size 0.40b
100
The raw and cooked noodles were lyophilized and fractured by 140 123 7.31 ± 19.84 ± 41.19 3.17 ± 2.40 ±
folding. The noodles were then fixed on the sample stage by conductive ± 1b 0.17c 0.46a ± 0.17c 0.35b
double-sided tape, and a thin layer of gold was sputtered on the cross- 0.33c
180 66 ± 7.97 ± 19.58 ± 37.90 2.71 ± 2.09 ±
section of the sample. The 500 × cross-sectional images were
1d 0.28b 1.32b ± 0.09d 0.22c
observed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (TESCAN MIRA 0.08d
LMS, Tescan Co., Ltd., Czech Republic) at an accelerating voltage of 10
Values are the mean ± standard deviation (SD). WF, wheat flour; PSPF, purple
kV.
sweet potato flour. Different letters in the same column indicate significant
differences (p < 0.05).
2.10. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis
( )12
The hydrogen bonding, protein secondary structure and starch short- Mt D
= 4 (2)
range order in raw and cooked noodles were determined with an Fourier M∞ wt
transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectrometer (Nicolet iN10 MX,
Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA) according to the method of Zou et al. where Mt is the anthocyanin content in the noodle soup at time t, M∞ is
(2022). The samples and spectral pure KBr (analytical grade) were dried the anthocyanin content when all the anthocyanins in PSPN diffuse into
at 40 ℃ for 8–12 h and mixed at a ratio of 1:100. The background was the noodle soup, D is the diffusion coefficient, w is the width of the
scanned (64 times) in the range of 400 cm− 1-4,000 cm− 1 at a resolution noodles (3.0 mm), and t is the thickness of the noodles (1.5 mm).
of 4 cm− 1. Omnic (version 8.0, Thermo Nicolet Inc, Waltham, MA, USA) Equation (2) can be further simplified to:
and PeakFit (version 4.12, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) were used to
k2 wt
analyze the Fourier infrared spectrum. D = (3)
16

where k is the slope of the line fitting the anthocyanin diffusivity

2.11. Diffusion behaviors of anthocyanins in noodles during cooking
The PSPNs were cut into 100 mm lengths. Weighed 3 g portions of
noodles were submerged in 500 mL of boiling water and cooked for
different times (30 s, 60 s, 90 s, 120 s, 150 s, 180 s, 210 s, 240 s). The
cooked noodles were removed, lyophilized and ground into powder. The
anthocyanin contents were determined using an anthocyanin content kit
(Solarbio Technology Co., Ltd, Beijing, China). The details of the method
for anthocyanin content determination are described in the supporting
information (Section 1.1).
The noodle soup was collected and cooled in an ice-water bath. The
determination of anthocyanin content in noodle soup was performed
according to the method reported by Lee, Durst, and Wrolstad (2005). A
total of 1.49 g of KCl was accurately weighed and diluted to 100 mL with
DI water, and the pH value was adjusted to 1.0 with 0.2 mol/L HCl
solution. NaAc (1.64 g) was dissolved in 100 mL DI water, and the pH
value was adjusted to 4.5 with 0.2 mol/L HCl solution. Then, noodle
soup (1 mL) was mixed with 9 mL of buffer solution (pH = 1.0, pH =
4.5), and after 40 min in a water bath at 40 ◦ C, the absorbance values
were measured at wavelengths of 520 nm and 700 nm by a microplate
reader (SpectraMax i3, Molecular Devices, United States). The antho­
cyanin content was calculated according to equation (1):
Anthocyanin content/(mg/g) = (A × Mr )/(ε × 1) × Df (1)
where A= (A520 nm pH 1.0-A700 nm pH 1.0) - (A520 nm pH 4.5-A700 nm pH 4.5), Mr
is the relative molecular mass of cyanidin-3-glucoside (449.2), ε is the
molar extinction coefficient of cyanidin-3-glucoside (26,900/mol), and
Df is the dilution factor (10).
Taking the cooking time as the abscissa and the amount of antho­
cyanins diffused per gram of PSPN in the noodle soup as the ordinate, a
line graph was drawn to describe the diffusion law of anthocyanins. The
diffusion coefficient was calculated by Fick’s second law (equation (2).
(calculated from Mt/M∞) to the square root of the cooking time.
2.12. Statistical analysis
The results are expressed as the means ± standard deviations. Sta­
tistical differences of all the samples were calculated by one-way anal­
ysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan’s multiple range test (p < 0.05)
using SPSS 16.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The graphs were made by
Origin 2019b (Origin Lab Corporation, Northampton, MA, USA).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Particle size and nutrient distributions
Particle size distribution plays a crucial role in the physicochemical
and functional properties of PSPF (Ma & Mu, 2016). As shown in
Figure S1a and Table 1, the unscreened WF had a particle size of 80 μm.
PSPF was sieved through 180, 140 and 100 mesh sieves, leading to D4,3
values of 66, 123 and 269 μm, respectively. PSPF sieved through 180
mesh sieve had the smaller particles. When it mixed with wheat flour, it
provided a narrower particle size distribution than the ones in the
mixtures, which mixed wheat flour and PSPF sieved through the larger
sieves (100 and 140 mesh) (Figure S1b). The nutrient distributions in
PSPF with different particle sizes are different, which might contribute
to the functional properties of the products (Ahmed, 2014). As shown in
Table 1, the water content of PSPF increased with decreasing particle
size. The refined PSPF has a larger specific surface area, making it more
capable of absorbing water than coarse PSPF (Chau, Wen, & Wang,
2006). The contents of protein, cellulose, starch, and carbohydrate in
PSPF decreased with decreasing PSPF particle size, as macromolecular
nutrients were damaged during mechanical crushing. The lower the

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H. Hu et al. Food Chemistry: X 18 (2023) 100672

Table 2
Cooking properties, textural properties, and tensile properties of cooked PSPNs.
Sample Cooking properties Textural properties and tensile properties

Optimal Cooking Water Cooking Hardness (g) Adhesiveness Springiness Chewiness Tensile Elasticity
Time (s) Absorption (%) Loss (%) (g⋅s) (g⋅s) (g⋅s) Strength(g) Distance (mm)

WFN 190.00 ± 17.32b 3.79 ± 0.11b 7.05 ± 0.18c 2633.27 ± 64.28 ± 4.72d 90.46 ± 1536.67 ± 16.93 ± 26.77 ± 1.60a
17.60a 4.75a 20.63d 1.14a
PSPN- 230.00 ± 17.32a 8.13 ± 0.07a 9.49 ± 2049.13 ± 86.73 ± 4.61c 64.82 ± 1762.50 ± 14.33 ± 19.43 ± 2.61d
15l 0.29a 26.93d 2.20d 16.21c 0.98b
PSPN- 220.00 ± 8.28 ± 0.57a 8.83 ± 2267.91 ± 93.29 ± 1.82b 71.33 ± 3.03c 1886.64 ± 14.62 ± 22.19 ± 2.88c
15m 17.32ab 0.59a 30.17c 26.03b 0.37b
PSPN- 200.00 ± 8.63 ± 0.29a 7.86 ± 2449.40 ± 99.81 ± 2.23a 79.65 ± 1978.70 ± 16.87 ± 24.24 ± 2.31b
15s 17.32ab 0.36b 9.55b 6.14b 18.77a 1.05a

WFN, wheat flour noodle; PSPN-15 refers to formula flours with 15% PSPF; l, m, s indicate the large size (269 μm), medium size (123 μm), and small size (66 μm) PSPF;
different letters in the same column indicate significant differences (p < 0.05).

Fig. 1. SEM images of the cross-sections of raw wheat flour noodles (a), raw PSPNs with different particle sizes (269 μm, 123 μm and 66 μm) of PSPF (b, c, d), cooked
wheat flour noodles (e) and cooked PSPNs with different particle sizes (269 μm, 123 μm and 66 μm) of PSPF (f, g, h).

particle size is, the higher the degree of destruction. These findings were
consistent with the study of Ma, Wang, Li, and Wang (2020), who re­
ported a similar relationship between particle size and the protein
content of wheat flour.
3.2. Cooking properties
The optimal cooking time, water absorption, and cooking loss of
PSPN-15 l, PSPN-15 m, and PSPN-15s were measured to evaluate their
cooking quality, and WFN was tested as a control group. As shown in
Table 2, the addition of PSPF prolonged the optimal cooking time of
PSPN. However, with the decrease in the particle size, the optimal
cooking time was shortened from 230 s to 200 s. The water absorption of
PSPN was improved by PSPF addition, probably because PSPF contains
more hydrophilic groups (Zhu, & Sun, 2019). As the particle size of PSPF
decreased, the specific surface area of PSPF increased, and more hy­
drophilic groups were exposed, resulting in an increase in the water
absorption of PSPN. PSPF substitution significantly (p < 0.05) increased
the cooking loss of PSPN. The reason for this might be that the phos­
phoric acid groups in PSPF could weaken the gluten network structure,
and the starch granules were easily freed from the gluten network,
resulting in an increase in the cooking loss (Zhu, & Sun, 2019).

Fig. 2. FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) transmittance spectra of starch in raw (a) and cooked (b) noodles. The Y-axis represents the infrared
transmittance of each noodle sample in the range of 400 cm− 1-4,000 cm− 1.

4
H. Hu et al. Food Chemistry: X 18 (2023) 100672

Furthermore, PSP protein could be cross-linked with gluten protein, Table 3

which was not conducive to gluten protein wrapping of starch granules Secondary structures and short-range order of raw and cooked noodles.
and would also lead to cooking loss (Cui, & Zhu, 2022). PSPN-15s Sample Secondary structures Short-range order
noodles with 66 μm PSPF showed the best cooking quality.
α-helix β-sheet β-turn Random DO DD (995
(%) (%) (%) coil (%) (1047 cm− 1/
3.3. Texture profile and tensile strength analysis cm− 1/ 1022
1022 cm− 1)
The effects of PSPF on the hardness, adhesiveness, springiness, cm− 1)

chewiness, tensile strength and elasticity distance of noodles are shown Raw noodles
in Table 2. The hardness, adhesiveness and springiness values of PSPN WFN 24.86 30.51 24.08 20.52 ± 1.3859 ± 1.4784
± 0.01a ± 0.27a 0.21g 0.0021b
were lower than those of WFN. This is due to the lower gluten concen­
± ±
0.06g 0.0125c
tration in PSPN. The chewiness values of PSPN were higher than those of PSPF- 16.22 24.82 29.46 29.49 ± 1.1731 ± 1.3035
WFN, which is due to the higher cellulose concentration of PSPF 15l ± 0.62d ± 0.01c ± 0.07d 0.0064e ±
(Table 1). When the particle size of PSPF was decreased, all the textural 0.05d 0.0061g
properties of PSPN were enhanced. This may be because the smaller PSPF- 18.54 26.34 28.04 27.10 ± 1.2566 ± 1.3152
15m ± 0.75c ± 0.05b ± 0.03e 0.0004d ±
particles could be better packed into the gluten network, resulting in a 0.43e 0.0005g
compact noodle microstructure (Fig. 1) and better textural properties PSPF- 21.77 26.57 26.31 25.37 ± 1.3225 ± 1.3870
(Table 2). Similarly, Azeem et al. (2020) found that sweet potato-wheat 15s ± 0.34b ± 0.12b ± 0.03f 0.0007c ±
bread prepared from sweet potato flour with the smallest particle size 0.37f 0.0004e
Cooked noodles
showed outstanding resilience, cohesion, gumminess and elasticity
WFN 16.89 20.17 ± 31.74 31.14 ± 1.4426 ± 1.5401 ±
values compared to other breads. ± 0.04d 0.13d ± 0.49c 0.0039a 0.0057a
0.41c
3.4. Sensory evaluation PSPF- 9.49 ± 15.40 ± 39.22 35.89 ± 1.2700 ± 1.3723 ±
15l 0.19g 0.44g ± 0.50a 0.0003d 0.0009f
0.08a
Sensory evaluation of PSPN-15l, PSPN-15m, and PSPN-15s was PSPF- 10.83 16.90 ± 39.08 33.21 ± 1.3398 ± 1.4451 ±
carried out with respect to color, appearance, palatability, toughness, 15m ± 0.65f 0.31f ± 0.27b 0.0003c 0.0103d
viscosity, smoothness, flavor and total score, and WFN was also tested as 0.08a
a control group. As shown in Figure S2, PSPF improved the color, PSPF- 12.75 18.23 ± 36.67 32.30 ± 1.3733 ± 1.4992 ±
15s ± 0.33e 0.06e 0.21b 0.0005b 0.0081b
appearance, palatability, toughness and flavor of the noodles. In terms of
±
0.14b
viscosity and smoothness, PSPN-15l tasted less viscous (7.01 points) and
excessively rough (7.56 points) than the control group (7.67 and 8.07
points). However, with decreasing particle size of PSPF, PSPN-15m 3.6. Structural determination of PSPN with FTIR
(7.72 and 8.24 points) and PSPN-15s (7.75 and 8.30 points) showed
greater advantages than WFN in these two aspects. With the exception of To investigate the structure of PSPN, raw and cooked PSPN-15 and
flavor, the other sensory properties increased with decreasing PSPF WNF were detected with FTIR spectroscopy (Fig. 2). The absorption
particle size. This may be due to the finer PSPF being distributed more peak at approximately 3,600 cm− 1-3,500 cm− 1 is reported to be related
evenly in the noodles and being bound more tightly to the gluten to –OH in the free state. With the formation of intramolecular or inter­
network, so that the color-forming substances in PSPF, anthocyanins, molecular hydrogen bonds, the absorption peak of –OH moved to a
were better protected and the gluten network structure was more stable lower wavelength and overlapped with the vibration absorption peak of
(Azeem et al., 2020). PSPN-15s were considered to be more uniform in N–H, resulting in a wider deformation peak (Liu et al., 2021). As shown
color, more moderate in viscosity and smoother in taste and achieved in Fig. 2a and b, WNF showed a wide and strong absorption peak at
the highest total score (8.39 points). approximately 3,395 cm− 1, indicating that a large number of intra­
molecular or intermolecular hydrogen bonds may exist in the molecular
3.5. Microstructure of raw and cooked PSPN polymer of WNF. With the addition of PSPF, the absorption peak further
approached the lower wavelength (raw noodles, 3,395.03 cm− 1-
The microstructure of noodles greatly affects noodle quality and the 3,383.88 cm− 1; cooked noodles, 3,395.26 cm− 1-3,384.06 cm− 1), and the
retention rates of bioactive ingredients. In this study, scanning electron lower particle size of PSPF exposed more hydrogen bonds, which
microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the effect of PSPF particle size enhanced the water absorption capacity of PSPF. Furthermore,
on the cross-sectional microstructure of noodles. As shown in Fig. 1a-d, hydrogen bonds are the primary force that maintains the α-helix struc­
the starch granules of the WFN were more closely combined with gluten ture (Jarpa-Parra et al., 2015).
protein, and the surface was relatively smooth and flat. With the addi­ The amide I region (1,700 cm− 1-1,600 cm− 1) is considered a char­
tion of PSPF, the noodle structure appeared to become looser, and holes acteristic band associated with the four types of secondary structures
appeared. However, the reduction in particle size resulted in a signifi­ (β-sheet, 1,600 cm− 1-1,637 cm− 1 and 1,682 cm− 1-1,700 cm− 1; random
cantly tighter noodle structure because the larger particle size of PSPF coil, 1,600 cm− 1-1,637 cm− 1; α-helix, 1,646 cm− 1-1,664 cm− 1; β-turn,
reduced the degree of starch exposure and disrupted the gluten network 1,665 cm− 1-1,681 cm− 1) (Byler & Susi, 1986). As shown in Fig. 2 and
in WFN, while the smaller particle size of PSPF could pack into the Table 3, the addition of PSPF resulted in a significant (p < 0.05) decrease
gluten structure, making the structure more stable (Zhang, et al., 2019). in the contents of α-helices and β-sheets and a significant (p < 0.05)
The microstructures of cooked WFN and PSPN are shown in Fig. 1e- increase in the contents of β-turns and random coils. It is generally
h. WFN had a typical cooked noodle structure with a continuous protein accepted that α-helix and β-sheet contents are positively correlated with
network and tangled structure. With the addition of PSPF, the gluten the orderliness of protein, while β-turn and random coil contents are
concentration was diluted, and larger holes were obtained in cooked related to disorderly structure (Pelton & Mclean, 2000). However, as the
PSPN-15 noodles. When the particle size of PSPF was decreased, part of particle size of PSPF decreased, the α-helix and β-sheet contents signif­
the protein network of the cooked PSPN was rebuilt, and the network icantly (p < 0.05) increased, and the β-turn and random coil contents
structure appeared to be relatively stable. This might be due to the significantly (p < 0.05) decreased. This suggests that the decrease in
greater water absorption and enhanced filling properties of PSPF with a PSPF particle size enhanced the structural orderliness and stability of the
smaller particle size. protein network in PSPN.

5
H. Hu et al.
Fig. 3. Concentration of anthocyanins in PSPNs (a) and noodle soups (b) during the cooking time. The relationship between PSPN anthocyanin diffusivity and the
square root of cooking time (c).
The FTIR spectrum region of approximately 1,000 cm− 1 was used to
characterize the short-range order of starch. The peaks at 995 cm− 1 and
1,047 cm− 1 are related to the crystallization region of starch, while the
peak at 1,022 cm− 1 represents the amorphous region. By calculating the
ratio of these three peaks, the order degree (DO, 1,047 cm− 1/1,022
cm− 1) and double helicity (DD, 995 cm− 1/1,022 cm− 1) can be obtained
(Zou et al., 2022). As shown in Fig. 2 and Table 3, the DO and DD of
PSPN were significantly (p < 0.05) lower than those of WFN. As the
particle size of PSPF decreased, the DO and DD of PSPN significantly (p
< 0.05) increased, which indicated that the reduction in particle size
could increase the intermolecular contact between amylose and short
chain amylopectin, contributing to the formation of nascent double
helices.
3.7. Diffusion behaviors of anthocyanins during PSPN cooking
As shown in Fig. 3, the concentrations of anthocyanins in different
PSPNs decreased during cooking, while the anthocyanin concentrations
in soups increased. These results indicated that the loss of anthocyanins
in PSPNs was partly due to anthocyanin diffusion from noodles to soups
and thermal degradation (Igoumenidis, Lekka, & Karathanos, 2016;
Rocchetti, Lucini, & Chiodelli, 2017). Owing to the higher concentration
of anthocyanins in PSPN-15s raw noodles (Table S2), the anthocyanin
content in PSPN-15s was higher than that in the other noodles during the
cooking time (Fig. 3a).
To investigate the kinetics of anthocyanin diffusion during cooking
time, the diffusion rate of anthocyanins and the square root of diffusion
time were fitted with Fick’s second law (Pinelo, Zornoza, & Meye, 2008)
(Fig. 3c). The diffusion coefficient of anthocyanins in the PSPN cooking
process was calculated according to the kinetic parameters obtained by
Fick’s second law. The diffusion coefficients (D) of PSPN-15l, PSPN-15m
and PSPN-15s were 14.0893 × 10-9 m2/s, 9.9998 × 10-9 m2/s, and
8.3248 × 10-9 m2/s, the kinetic parameters k were 2.2382 s− 1, 1.8856
s− 1, and 1.7204 s− 1, and the correlation coefficients R2 were 0.9958,
0.9749, and 0.9885. In this study, PSPN-15s made with the finest PSPF
had the lowest D, indicating the slowest diffusion of anthocyanins in
PSPN-15s. This might be due to the tighter structure of PSPN-15s
(Fig. 1d and h), which makes it less porous and inhibits the leaching
of anthocyanins. On the other hand, finer PSPF may promote the non­
covalent interaction between starch and anthocyanins (Ferruzzi et al.
2020) to protect anthocyanins from loss during cooking. Thus, PSPN
with 15% 66 μm PSPF was more beneficial to the prevention of the
diffusion of anthocyanins during cooking.
4. Conclusion
The influence of PSPF particle size on wheat flour noodles was
investigated in this study. PSPF addition could deteriorate the cooking
properties and textural properties of noodles, but this could be offset by
the decrease in PSPF particle size. FTIR analysis showed that PSPF
6
Food Chemistry: X 18 (2023) 100672
affected the structural orderliness of the noodles by altering the number
of hydrogen bonds, the composition of the protein secondary structure
and the short-range order of starch. The smaller PSPF particle size led to
a tighter and more stable noodle structure. The anthocyanin content
decreased dramatically during cooking, which was mainly caused by
diffusion. The diffusion behavior of anthocyanins from noodles to soup
is in accordance with Fick’s second law. The diffusion coefficients of
anthocyanins ranged from 8.3248 × 10-9 to 14.0893 × 10-9 m2/s. PSPN
with 15% 66 μm PSPF showed the highest sensory score, most compact
microstructure and greatest anthocyanin retention rate during process­
ing and cooking. This study suggested that PSP could be considered the
raw material for noodles due to the high concentration of processable
anthocyanins, which could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The digestion, absorption and function of PSPN can be further investi­
gated in future studies.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Han Hu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Inves­
tigation, Writing – original draft, Supervision. Xiang-Yu Zhou: Soft­
ware, Resources, Data curation, Visualization. Ya-Shu Wang:
Validation. Yu-xin Zhang: . Wen-Hua Zhou: Project administration,
Funding acquisition. Lin Zhang: Conceptualization, Methodology,
Visualization, Funding acquisition.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Science and Technology Innovation
Program of Hunan Province (2022RC1148), the Innovation Leading
Plan Project of Hunan province (2021GK4022), Natural Science Foun­
dation of Hunan Province (No. 2022JJ50260, 2022JJ31009), Natural
Science Foundation of Changsha (kq2014150, kq2202282), a program
for Special Project for the Construction of the Innovative Province in
Hunan Province (2019TP2011) and a program for Science and Tech­
nology of Education Department of Hunan Province (20B620).
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.fochx.2023.100672.
H. Hu et al. Food Chemistry: X 18 (2023) 100672

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