Subcritical water extraction-based methods affect the physicochemical and functional properties of soluble dietary fibers from wheat bran.

In this study, subcritical water extraction (SWE), SWE in aqueous citric acid (pH 5.0) (SWEC), and ultrasound-assisted SWEC (USWEC) were used to extract soluble dietary fiber (SDF) from wheat bran. Results showed that SWE-based methods significantly influenced the physicochemical, functional, and biological properties of the SDF. The fraction SDF-III attained via USWEC had higher SDF yield (46.30%) and carbohydrate content (82.91%), and lower weight-average molecular weight (65.2 kDa) and particle size (1.17 μm), and looser and more porous surface structure, compared with the SDF-I and SDF-II obtained by SWE and SWEC, respectively. USWEC increased the thermal stability and homogeneity of SDF-III but decreased its apparent viscosity and dynamic viscoelasticity. Moreover, the SDF-III exhibited more significant antioxidant and α-amylase inhibitory activities in vitro than SDF-I and SDF-II. Therefore, the USWEC technique had a greater potential for the highly-efficient production of SDF from wheat bran.