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Fructan Content of Rye and Rye Products

¹VTT Biotechnology, P.O. Box 1500, FIN-02044 VTT, Finland ²Corresponding author: Phone +358 9 456 5214. Fax +358 9 455 2103. E-mail: sirpa.karppinen@vtt.fi.

The fructan content of Finnish rye grains (13 samples, seven cultivars, harvested in 1998-2000) varied at 4.6–6.6 g/100 g (db). Commercial whole grain rye flour and rye flakes had fructan content of 4 g/100 g, light refined rye flour had fructan content of 3 g/100 g, and rye bran had fructan content of 7 g/100 g. Fructan content as high as 23 g/100 g was detected in the water-extractable concentrate of rye bran. Finnish soft rye bread and rye crisp bread contained 2–3 g of fructan/100 g. According to the suggested new definition of dietary fiber, fructans are also classified as dietary fiber. This means that the dietary fiber content of some cereal foods such as rye products may be increased by as much as 20% due to the presence of fructans in the grain.