Effects of enzymolysis of arabinoxylan on quality of hanging noodles and potential prebiotic activity

Two kinds of corn cob arabinoxylans (AX) were treated with xylanase to obtain the corresponding enzymatic arabinoxylans (AXe), and their effects on the quality of hanging noodles and potential prebiotic activities were studied. AX and AXe influenced the quality of hanging noodles by altering the secondary structure and conformation of gluten proteins as well as the interactions between proteins. Compared to the control group, AX improved the hardness of hanging noodles by 27.15% to 49.74%, whereas 6% AXe reduced the hardness of hanging noodles by 12.05% to 20.63% and reduced chewiness by 14.36% to 19.53%. Both AX and AXe enhanced the tolerance of probiotics to acidic conditions and bile salts. However, the digested product of AXe showed a more significant promotion of probiotic growth compared to AX. Notably, 2% AXe did not significantly affect the quality of hanging noodles ( P >0.05), but its digestive products maintained good potential prebiotic activity. This study provides a valuable reference for the development of specialized dietary foods incorporating AX. • AX increased the hardness by inducing the polymerization of gluten proteins. • AXe disrupted disulfide bonds and β-sheets of gluten proteins. • AXe-added noodles had stronger probiotic activity than AX-added noodles. • AX and AXe enhanced acid-resistant, bile-salt resistant properties of probiotics.