Asian unleavened flat bread – Chapathi, highly nutritious.

Wellness

oi-Denise Baptiste

By Denise Baptiste

Wednesday, July 21, 2010, 18:05

As you may know chapati is a staple food , due to reasons like it helps you to keep your weight in control, it also helps to avoid hair loss and also helps to beat summer lethargy . Chapathi has become a must in house holds of today. It was usually a breakfast or a lunch meal , but nowadays this has changed .It is well known in many families of today whether in rich , middle or in lower sections of the society.

This traditional Chapati known as “Flatbread"can have a higher in take of protein and fiber content if made using food grade distillers grains. The South Dakota State University( SDSU) food scientist Padu Krishnan has said , “ Distillers dried grains with solubles, or DDGS, can help improve human nutrition worldwide." . This DDGS is produced as a co – product when processing corn into ethanol.

As by researchers , Krishnan and his student Sowmya Arra, who had worked with Kurt Rosentrater of the USDA Agricultural Research Service North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory on the project, says they have found that using DDGS to make up 10 percent of the dough in chapathi , the Asian whole wheat unleavened bread eaten in South Asia and South Africa has boosted the fiber from 2.9 percent to 7.8 percent.

Thus , using 20 percent DDGS in the dough has increased the fiber to 10.3 percent. By all this , the protein has also increased from 10.5 to 12.9 percent when DDGS was used to make up 10 percent of the dough in chapathi and using 20 percent DDGS protein has increased to 15.3 percent . “By adding DDGS to the dough it makes the chapatis significantly darker, usually at the 20 percent substitution" , said Krishnan.

He further added that ," However, the use of South Dakota white wheats such as 'Alice' and 'Wendy' in the formulation gives us some leeway when color is the aesthetic criterion". “The shelf life of the chapati at room temperature was one week without preservatives and refrigeration" he said.

Rich in dietary fiber at 40 percent and protein at 36.8 percent, Krishnan revealed that DDGS is ideal in human diets. He also stated that it was enough to catch the attention of the food industry for it is a strategy to bolster diets with a bland , it is a highly nutritious ingredient and therefore wont interfere with the taste of foods as per the results from the Dakota State laboratory studies.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.