Plasticizing properties of sugars and soluble dietary fibres revealed by high-throughput viscosity and time-domain 1H NMR relaxometry

Understanding and quantifying the plasticizing properties of soluble fibres (i.e. oligosaccharides, resistant dextrins and polydextrose) is essential for the rational design of sugar-reduced and fibre-enriched foods. This is challenging in complex polysaccharides systems. This study systematically investigated the relationships among viscosity, volumetric density of effective hydroxyl groups ( n OH,eff ), the ratio T g /T (with T g the glass transition temperature of the systems and T the actual temperature), and low-field NMR transverse relaxation time ( T 2 ) in aqueous solutions of sugars, polyols, soluble fibres, amino acids, and their mixtures. High-throughput viscosity measurements revealed that viscosity universally scaled with both n OH,eff and T g /T across all systems, collapsing data from structurally diverse plasticizers and multicomponent mixtures onto a single master curve. The log of T 2 relaxation times from time-domain 1 H NMR relaxometry exhibited strong linear correlations with n OH,eff and T g /T , demonstrating that molecular mobility and rheology are governed by hydrogen bond density when carbohydrate solutions are treated as a single effective solvent. By integrating viscosity and T 2 data within a Bayesian inference framework constrained by thermodynamic mixing rules, the dry T g of polydisperse soluble fibres was estimated with low uncertainty, overcoming limitations of conventional DSC-based approaches. This methodology provided a rapid, high-throughput strategy to quantify plasticizing properties and intrinsic material descriptors in complex carbohydrate systems. These insights support data-driven screening and design of polysaccharide-based ingredients with targeted textural functionality (e.g. sugar replacers), facilitating the development of healthier food formulations and valorization of carbohydrate-rich side-streams. • High-throughput viscosity and T 2 NMR revealed universal plasticization scaling laws • Viscosity is inversely related to the T 2 relaxation time for sugars and soluble fibres • Viscosity and T 2 relaxation scaled with hydrogen bond density and T g /T • A Bayesian framework enabled robust dry T g estimation in complex carbohydrates • Fast screening tool for sugar replacement and fibre-rich food design