Evaluation of Sensory, Nutritional, Physicochemical, Cooking, Textural, and Bioactive Properties of Kappaphycus alvarezii Powder Incorporated into Dried Noodles

This study focused on the development of red seaweed (Kappaphycus alvarezii) incorporated noodles and the evaluation of their properties. Different proportions of seaweed powder (3 %, 6 %, 9 % and 12 %; w/w) were substituted to obtain seaweed-incorporated noodles, and noodles without seaweed were used as a control. Physicochemical, cooking, textural, nutritional, organoleptic, and bioactive characteristics of the noodle samples were analyzed. The incorporation of K. alvarezii powder significantly (p < 0.05) increased the cooking yield (from 122.23 to 130.30 %), cooking loss (not exceed 10 %) water absorption (from 1.1 to 1.59 g/g), and swelling capacity (from 1.45 to 2.12 g/g), while reducing the pH (from 6.21 to 5.71), water activity (from 0.163 to 0.121), cooking time (from 7.43 to 5.35 minutes), and texture properties of dried noodles. Seaweed powder softened the noodles and reduced their hardness. The colour of the noodles turned darker and redder with the addition of seaweed powder. Lightness and yellowness values decreased, and redness value increased significantly with the increasing amount of seaweed powder.  K. alvarezii powder can be mixed up to 9% without substantially changing the appearance, colour, taste, flavour, firmness, stickiness, smoothness, and overall acceptability of noodles. Noodles with 9% seaweed powder showed significantly (p < 0.05) higher fiber (1.75 %) and mineral content (3.94 %), and lower carbohydrate (76.5 %) and energy value (356.35 kcal/100g) on a dry weight basis compared to the control, suggesting that K. alvarezii-added noodles provide enhanced nutritional benefits. Noodles fortified with K. alvarezii exhibit significantly higher phenolic (107.41 µg gallic acid equivalents/g) and flavonoid content (79.41 µg rutin equivalents/g) and significantly improved the bioactive properties, including antioxidant activity: 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity (20.88 %), total antioxidant (1.16 mg ascorbic acid equivalents (AAE)/g), and reducing power (100.31 µg AAE/g), alpha-amylase inhibition (17.51 %), and anti-inflammatory activity (inhibition of bovine serum albumin) (20.06 %) compared to control. These findings indicate that it is possible to produce functional noodles with increased fiber and mineral content and enhanced technological properties by incorporating K. alvarezii powder in noodle formulations.