Banana - Tropical and Subtropical Fruits: Postharvest Physiology, Processing and Packaging - page 147

because control spaghetti had RS content of 1.0% and that
added with 45% of UBF presented 12.4%. The in vitro rate
of starch hydrolysis decreased when UBF increased in the
composite. Addition of UBF to the spaghetti increased the
polyphenols content, enabling the final product to exhibit
some antioxidant capacity (Ovando-Martinez et al., 2009).
The sensorial study of spaghetti did not show differences in
the preferences of consumers among control, commercial,
and UBF-added spaghetti (Agama-Acevedo et al., 2009).
Overweight and obesity are perhaps the most impor-
tant worldwide public health problems due to a number
of diseases related to them such as cardiovascular disease,
diabetes, and cancer. Recently, Seal and Brownlee (2010)
reported that “eat more whole grains” is a message that
has become universally widespread. Whole grain flours of
wheat, barley, and oat were blended with UBF in the same
amount to prepare bar. Whole grain bar added with UBF
presented total dietary fiber of 7.0% (dry basis). The starch
fractions present in the bar as eaten showed the highest
amount of rapidly digestible starch (RDS) with 51.9%, fol-
lowed by slowly digestible starch with 4.2% and resistant
starch with 4.1%. Whole grain bar added with UBF showed
the lowest glycemic index with a value of 42.6%, indicat-
ing a low amount of glucose supply after consumption, an
important point for overweight, obese, and diabetic people.

sources that appear to be healthier for consumers and permit
a better preservation of the fruit's freshlike qualities. Forth-
coming work about the quality of fresh-cut produce should
also take into consideration the prevention of nutritional
losses as influenced by processing and storage conditions.

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SUMMARY
Banana is an important food crop in tropical and subtrop-
ical countries. Edible Musa plants are classified into AA,
AB, BB, AAA, AAB, ABB, AAAA, AAAB, and ABBB
genomic groups. In general, dessert banana cultivars in the
world are AA or AAA; this last group includes almost all
bananas sold. Cooking bananas, including plantain sub-
group, are predominantly AAB, or ABB. The great biodi-
versity of banana plants provides potential for diverse uses
and applications. Banana fruits are sold as fresh, but diverse
processes to produce banana food products are reported,
including juices, concentrates, freezing, and minimally or
fresh-cut products. An important amount of banana food
products are produced in an artisanal level or at a low in-
dustrial scale in diverse regions of Asia, Africa, and Latin
America; however, the nutraceutical potential of banana
fruit is interesting for worldwide markets. The process-
ing of banana using traditional unit operations and new
methodologies is presented, with a focus in the nutraceuti-
cal aspect of the fruit. Food safety and regulatory aspects
are mentioned as well as quality attributes, i.e., physical,
chemical, and sensory characteristics.
One of the main future goals in this field is the search
for new banana varieties and new compounds from natural