LWT - Food Science and Technology 51 (2013) 348e355

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LWT - Food Science and Technology

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Effect of carriers on physicochemical properties, antioxidant activities

and biological components of spray-dried purple sweet potato flours
Zhen Peng a, Jing Li a, Yufang Guan a, Guohua Zhao a, b, c, *
a
College of Food Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
b
Key Laboratory of Food Processing and Technology of Chongqing, Chongqing 400715, PR China
c
Chongqing Sweet Potato Engineering and Technology Centre, Chongqing 400715, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This work focuses on the impact of carriers on the physicochemical properties, antioxidant capacities and
Received 29 October 2011 biological components of spray-dried purple sweet potato flours. The optimal carrier addition of mal-
Received in revised form todextrin (MD), b-cyclodextrin (b-CD) and their combination (MD/b-CD, 5/1) were 30, 10 and 24 g/100 g
16 September 2012
in terms of flour yield. Compared to the flour without carrier, flours with carriers had higher values in L*,
Accepted 25 September 2012
fluidity, water solubility index, glass transition temperature, lower values in chroma, water absorption
index and water holding capacity. The influence intensity of carriers on the physicochemical properties of
Keywords:
flours followed the sequence of MD > MD/b-CD>b-CD. The flours with carriers were more dispersive and
Purple sweet potato
Spray drying
had smoother surface than flour without carrier. The addition of carrier had little effects on flours’
Flour sorption isotherm and the Halsey model presents the best goodness-of-fit to all flours. The flour with MD
Carrier had higher retention rate of anthocyanins, flavonoids and total phenolics than flours without and with
Antioxidant capacity other carriers. The flour with MD has higher antioxidant activity (DPPH test) than flours with MD/b-CD or
b-CD.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction amount of sweet potatoes decayed when they stored in unsuitable

Purple sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) have high nutritional
value. They are particularly rich in anthocyanins, which gives the
sweet potatoes the strong purple color (Ahmed, Akter, Lee, & Eun,
2010). The purple sweet potato has received increasing attention
from researchers in recent times. The anthocyanins of purple sweet
potatoes not only show great potential in terms of natural colorants
but also provide various nutraceutical properties such as free-
radical scavenging activity (Oki et al., 2002). Storage of fresh
sweet potatoes requires nicely controlled temperature (13e15
C)
(Reesa et al., 2003) and relative humidity (85e95%) (Mortleyl,
Bonsi, Loretan, Hill, & Morris, 1994; Padda & Picha, 2008), which
could be fulfilled with advanced and expensive equipments. It is
also manpower consuming. In developing countries, a large
Abbreviations: b-CD, b-cyclodextrin; DE, dextrose equivalent; DPPH, 1,1-
diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl; EMC, Equilibrium moisture content; LPI, Lipid perox-
idation inhibition; MD, Maltodextrin; Tg, Glass transition temperature; WAI, Water
absorption index; WHC, Water holding capacity; WSI, Water solubility index.
* Corresponding author. College of Food Science, Southwest University,
Tiansheng Road 2, Chongqing 400715, PR China. Tel.: þ86 23 68 25 1902 ; fax: þ86
23 68 25 19 47.
E-mail address: zhaogh@swu.edu.cn (G. Zhao).
conditions. To avoid the above-mentioned loss, sweet potatoes
could be sliced and dried or converted to flour before storage. Dried
sweet potato flours have longer shelf life and are ready for use. The
unique purple color, flavor and supplemented nutrients as well as
the thickness of purple sweet potato flour make it an ideal additive
to soups, sauces, baby foods and bakery products (Ahmed, Akter,
Lee, et al., 2010).
Flours can be derived from various fruits and vegetables through
different drying methods such as hot-air-drying, freeze-drying,
microwave-drying and spray-drying. Spray-drying has been widely
applied on account of its ability to produce dry particles of good
quality with readily available equipment (Fang & Bhandari, 2011;
Yang, Chen, Zhao, & Mao, 2010). However, when the puree of
starchy vegetables such as sweet potato is fed, the drier is easily
blocked. Moreover, the high sticky nature of the feed will result in
deposition of the powder on the dryer wall and conveying system
(Bhandari & Howes, 2005; Hennings, Kockel, & Langrish, 2001).
Recently, the addition of carriers has proved to be an effective way
to ease this technological problem (Desai & Park, 2005). The
carriers can be classified into three categories, namely, poly-
saccharides (maltroxtrin, gum, starch), proteins (whey, gelatin,
casein, soy protein) and lipids (stearic acid) (Saénz, Tapia, Chávez, &
Robert, 2009).

0023-6438/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2012.09.022
 Z. Peng et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 51 (2013) 348e355
Maltodextrin (MD) and cyclodextrin (CD) are the most
commonly used carriers in spray-drying and possess high water
solubility and low viscosity at a low cost. On the other hand, they
have proved to improve the stability of bioactive components and
increase the yield and physicochemical properties of spray-dried
flours (Ahmed, Akter, Lee, et al., 2010; Del Valle, 2004; Goula &
Adamopoulos, 2010; Grabowski, Truong, & Daubert, 2006;
Kalogeropoulos, Yannakopoulou, Gioxari, Chiou, & Makris, 2010;
Quek, Chok, & Swedlund, 2007). It was evident that the effects of
the carriers were highly depended on the properties of matrices to
be dried and the carriers themselves. In this context, it is of
industrial importance to comparatively study the effects of
different carriers on the spray-dried purple sweet potato flours.
Unfortunately, information related to this is scant.
The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of the MD,
b-CD and their combination on the bioactive components, physi-
cochemical properties and antioxidant capacity of spray-dried
purple sweet potato flours.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Materials
Purple sweet potatoes (Wanzi 56 variety) were supplied by the
Experimental Farm of Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
After harvesting, they were cleaned, stewed (water/sweet potato
ratio of 1:6 (w/w), cooking temperature 100
C and cooking time
25 min) and manually peeled. They were homogenized with the aid
of a household blender to produce purple sweet potato puree. The
contents of anthocyanins, flavonoids and total phenolics, on dry
basis in puree were 44.28 mg/100 g, 1.217 g/100 g and 2.504 g/100 g
respectively. The obtained puree was packed in polyethylene bags
and stored at 18
C prior to use. MD (dextrose equivalence 20) was
sourced from Xiwang Food Co. (Shangdong, China) and b-CD was
purchased from Kelong Chemical Reagent Co. (Chengdu, China). All
other chemicals and reagents were of analytical grade.
2.2. Spray-drying
The frozen puree was thawed at room temperature (approxi-
mately 25
C) and ground after adding water to it using a colloidal
mill (JMS-50, Xiangtong jixie Co., Hebei, China) to produce purple
sweet potato suspension. Carriers (MD of 0e20 g/100 g, b-CD of 0e
40 g/100 g and MD/b-CD of 20e26.7 g/100 g) were incorporated
into the suspension on dry basis of the puree. The solid content of
the suspension was normalized to 16.7 g/100 g by adding water. It
was later homogenized using a GYB-60-63 (Donghua, Shanghai,
China) experimental homogenizer operating at 30 MPa to prepare
the feed. The spray-drying was conducted using a spray dryer YC-
015 (Yacheng, Shanghai, China) with inlet and outlet tempera-
tures of 200
C and 100
C. The reference flour was prepared in the
same way but without the carrier. Moisture contents of the puree
and flours were measured using the AOAC method (AOAC, 1984).
2.3. Hunter color values
The color parameters of the flours, including Hunter L*, a*, b*,
hue angle (the property of the color) and chroma (the color
intensity or saturation) were determined as described by the
method of Grabowski et al. (2006) by using an UltraSan PRO
HunterLab (Xinlian, Shanghai, China). The color of flours expressed
as L*, a* and b* values, where L*, a*, and b* stands for brightness,
redness, and yellowness, respectively. The colorimeter of the puree
was as the standard sample (L0 ¼ 27.87, a0 ¼ 4.09, b0 ¼ 6.86). The
total color change (DE) of samples was calculated as Eq.:
349
DE ¼ ((L  L0) þ (a  a0) þ (b  b0))1/2 where L0, a0 and b0 were the
L, a, and b values of the standard sample, which here is the puree.
Hue angle (H) was calculated from arctan (b*/a*) and chroma from
(a*2 þ b*2)1/2.
2.4. Determination of angles of repose and slide
The angle of repose (q) was measured according to the method
reported by Zhao, Yang, Gai, and Yang (2009) and the slide angle
was determined according to the procedure reported by Zhou and
Ileleji (2008).
2.5. Hydration properties of the flours
The water holding capacity (WHC) of flour was determined
according to the method described previously (Zhao et al., 2009).
The starch dispersion was incubated in a water bath for 40 min with
varying temperature from 20
C to 80
C or at 60
C with varying
time from 10 min to 60 min. Water solubility index (WSI) and water
absorption index (WAI) were determined according to the method
described by Ahmed, Akter, Lee, et al. (2010). Moisture sorption
isotherm was determined according to the method reported by Lee
and Lee (2007) with minor modifications. The equilibrium moisture
content (EMC g/100 g, dry weight basis) of flour was determined
using a gravimetric technique. Saturated salt solutions of NaOH (aw,
0.070), MgCl2 (aw, 0.33), Mg(NO3)2 (aw, 0.528), NaCl (aw, 0.752), KBr
(aw, 0.807), KCl (aw, 0.842), BaCl2 (aw, 0.901) and K2Cr2O7 (aw, 0.986)
were used to obtain flours with different aw values by equilibrium.
Experiment was done at room temperature (25  1
C). The
isotherm models, including Henderson, Kuhn, Oswin, Bradley,
Halsey and Chung-Pfost were used to fit the experimental moisture
sorption data of aw and EMC%.
2.6. Analysis of bioactive components
The content of anthocyanins in flour was measured according to
the method reported by Hosseinian, Li, and Beta (2008). The
extraction of flavonoids from flour was performed according to the
method of Andarwulan, Batari, Sandrasari, Bolling, and Wijaya
(2010) with slight modifications. The flour (1.0 g) was extracted
at 60
C for 3 h with 30 mL aqueous methanol (methanol/water
ratio of 95:5 (v/v)). Following centrifugation at 8000 rpm for
15 min, aliquot of supernatant was reserved and allowed to cool.
Then the supernatant was made up to 100 mL with methanol
(methanol/water ratio of 95:5 (v/v)). The content of flavonoids in
flour was measured using the method of Ahmed, Akter, Lee, et al.
(2010). The content of total phenolics in flour was analyzed, using
FolineCiocalteu method as described by Yang et al. (2010) with
minor modifications. The flour (1.0 g) was repeatedly extracted at
80
C for 10 min with 8 mL aqueous methanol (methanol/water
ratio of 80:20 (v/v)). The supernatants obtained by centrifugation at
2150 g for 15 min were combined and diluted to 50 mL with
methanol (methanol/water ratio of 80:20 (v/v)). The aliquots of
extract solution were packaged in amber bottles and stored
at 18
C prior to the test for total phenolic content and antioxidant
activity. The total phenolic content was calculated on the basis of
calibration curves of gallic acid and expressed as g GAE (gallic acid
equivalent)/100 g on dry weight basis.
2.7. Determination of antioxidant activities
The measurement of DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl)
radical scavenging activity was performed according to the proce-
dure reported by Huang, Chang, and Shao (2006). The reducing
power was measured using the method of the ferric reducing
350 Z. Peng et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 51 (2013) 348e355

vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
uP
u n m  m 2
ability of plasma (FRAP) assay described by Rumbaoa, Cornago, and
Geronimo (2009). The determination of lipid peroxidation inhibi- t i ¼ 1 pi i
SE ¼
tion activity (LPI) was adapted using the procedure described by ðn  1Þ
Serratosa, Marquez, Lopez-Toledano, Medina, and Merida (2011).
The methanolic extract was prepared by extracting 1 g flour with where, n is the number of experimental observations; mi represents
methanol (methanol/water ratio of 80:20 (v/v)) and diluted to experimental moisture content (g/100 g dry weight basis) values,
50 mL. Concentration for 50% of maximal effect (EC50) was obtained and mpi denotes value predicted from model.
by interpolation from linear regression analysis and represented
the effective concentration of methanolic extract (mg/mL) at which
the DPPH radicals were scavenged by 50%, the absorbance was 0.5 3. Results and discussion
for reducing power, and lipid peroxidation was inhibited by 50%,
respectively. 3.1. Effects of carrier addition on flour yield

Fig. 1A showed the effects of the addition of MD and b-CD on

2.8. Glass transition temperature the yield of spray-dried purple sweet potato flour. The additions of
MD (10e40 g/100 g) and b-CD (10e20 g/100 g) significantly
Glass transition temperature was determined according to the improved the yield of flour. This was reflected by the lower flour
method reported by Grabowski et al. (2006). A DSC 200PC Differ- yield without carrier (23.32 g/100 g) contrary to these with
ential Scanning Calorimeter (Netzsch, Shanghai, China) equipped carriers (26.44e41.08 g/100 g). With the increase in the addition
with a thermal analysis station (Infinity PRO software version 4.2) of the carriers, the flour yield first dramatically increased and
was used. The glass transition temperature (Tg) was calculated as the reached a plateau. The increase in flour yields of 39.85 and 37.75 g/
average of the onset and end points values (Grabowski et al., 2006). 100 g were obtained with the addition of 30 g/100 g MD and 10 g/
100 g b-CD. The significant increase in flour yield induced by the
2.9. Scanning electron microscopy addition of the carriers could be attributed to the carrier’s ability
to form outer layers on the droplet and increase the glass transi-
Morphological characteristics of the powders were observed tions temperature (Tg). This could have reduced the flour depo-
using a Tescan vega III scanning electron microscope (Brno, Czech sition on drying wall (Ahmed, Akter, & Eun, 2010). With the
Republic). increase of MD from 30 g/100 g to 40 g/100 g, little changes were
observed in flour yield but the attractive purple color of the flour
significantly diminished.
2.10. Statistical analysis The yields of purple sweet potato flour with b-CD/MD (0, 1/10,
1/8, 1/5, 1/3, w/w) as carrier were further investigated at a fixed
Each experiment was replicated at least three times. The results addition of MD (20 g/100 g). The results are shown in Fig. 1B. With
were expressed as mean values with standard deviations (SD). The the addition of b-CD increased from 2.0 g/100 g to 4.0 g/100 g in
differences in data were analyzed based on analysis of variance the feed the flour yield sharply increased by 11.62%e43.55%,
(ANOVA) which was conducted using Duncan’s test (p＜0.05, SPSS, compared to the flour yield with 20 g/100 g MD only. When
Version 16). R2, E and SE were determined by following equations: 30 g/100 g MD and 24 g/100 g b-CD/MD (1/5, w/w) were used as
P 2 carriers comparative flour yields (39.85 and 40.41 g/100 g) were
mi  mpi achieved. This implied that the required level of combined carrier
R2 ¼ P P
m2i m2pi of b-CD/MD was lower than that of MD to achieve the same level
of flour yield.
The flours prepared with the addition of 30 g/100 g MD, 10 g/
n  
100 X mpi  mi 100 g b-CD and 24 g/100 g b-CD/MD (1/5, w/w) were used in the
E ¼
n i¼1 mi following experiments.

Fig. 1. Effects of the addition of maltodextrin (MD), b-cyclodextrin (b-CD) (A) and their mixture (20 g/100 g MD with varying addition of b-CD) (B) on the yield of spray-dried purple
sweet potato flours. Values are means of triplicates and error bars represent the SD. Values bearing different lowercase or capital letters indicate significant difference within the
same curve by Duncan's test (p<0.05). The yield is the ratio of the mass of flour to that of the feed on dry basis. ( ), b-CD; (:), MD; (-), MD/b-CD.
 Z. Peng et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 51 (2013) 348e355 351

Table 1
Moisture content, colour and fluidity properties of spray-dried purple sweet potato flours.

Physico-chemical properties Controla b-CDa MDa MD/b-CDa

b
Moisture content (g/100 g) 8.68  0.06a 7.39  0.10c 7.62  0.04b 7.13  0.04d
Colour parameters L* 69.61  0.79c 70.83  0.18bc 73.04  1.05a 71.75  0.78 ab
a* 18.20  0.27a 15.55  0.04c 16.04  0.17b 15.29  0.21b
b* 12.00  0.20d 11.02  0.01c 9.80  0.06a 10.73  0.12b
Hue 33.40  0.06b 35.33  0.06d 31.43  0.14a 35.06  0.09c
Chroma 21.80  0.34a 19.06  0.03b 18.80  0.18b 18.69  0.24b
DEc 44.37  1.27a 44.67  1.04a 46.82  1.64a 45.46  1.24a
Fluidity Repose angle (
) 60.16  2.35a 56.98  0.83 ab 51.36  1.43c 55.01  0.78b
Slide angle (
) 54.14  0.94a 50.99  0.60b 46.30  0.54c 49.39  1.17b
d
Anthocyanins Content (mg/100 g) 31.99  0.07a 22.76  0.04d 26.48  0.06b 23.30  0.04c
Retention rate (%)e 72.25  0.01b 57.11  0.01d 85.43  0.02a 69.24  0.01c
d
Flavonoids Content (mg/100 g) 0.67  0.01b 0.61  0.02c 0.76  0.02a 0.63  0.02c
Retention rate (%)e 55.06  0.01c 55.70  0.01c 89.22  0.02a 68.12  0.01b
d
Total phenolics Content (mg/100 g) 1.39  0.01b 1.11  0.02c 1.45  0.02a 1.15  0.02c
Retention rate (%)e 55.50  0.01c 49.25  0.01d 82.72  0.01a 60.42  0.01b

aed Values are means  SD (n ¼ 3) and values in the same row bearing different superscript lowercase letters are significant difference (p < 0.05) by Duncan’s test.
a
MD, b-CD and MD/b-CD represent the flours prepared with addition of 30 g/100 g maltodextrin, 10 g/100 g b-cyclodextrin, 24 g/100 g maltodextrin/b-cyclodextrin (5/1, w/
w) mixture and the control sample was the flour without addition of any carrier.
b
Moisture content was expressed on wet weight basis.
c
DE was defined as the magnitude of difference between the initial purple sweet potato puree and spray dried sweet potato fours.
d
Values were expressed on dry weight basis.
e
Retention rate (%) was calculated using the formula: Retention rate (%) ¼ Cflour/Cfeed  100%, where Cflour and Cfeed denote the contents of biological component in spray-
dried flour and the feed on dry basis, respectively.

Fig. 2. Scanning electron microstructure of spray-dried purple sweet potato flours. (A) flour without carrier; (B) flour with 10 g/100 g b-cyclodextrin; (C) flour with 30 g/100 g
maltodextrin; (D) flour with 24 g/100 g maltodextrin/b-cyclodextrin (5/1, w/w) mixture.
352 Z. Peng et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 51 (2013) 348e355

3.2. Moisture content and color of the flours
The moisture content of the spray-dried micro-particles is an
important indicator of the drying efficiency and product quality
(Rattes & Oliveira, 2007). Significant difference in moisture content
was observed among the four flours and it increased in the carrier
order of MD/b-CD<b-CD < MD < none (Table 1). It is suggested that
the addition of the carriers facilitated the loss of moisture in the
process of drying. Similar results were also reported by Del Valle
(2004) and Quek et al. (2007).
Color parameters, including L*, a*, b*, DE, hue and chroma
(saturation) values of the spray-dried flours with different carriers
were presented in Table 1. Overall, an increase in L* value was as
a result of the addition of the carriers. This observation was similar
to that made by Ahmed, Akter, and Eun (2010) and Grabowski et al.
(2006). The L* value of reference flour is not significantly different
from the one with b-CD but it is significantly different from those
with MD and MD/b-CD. Hunter a* and chroma values of flours with
carriers were significantly lower than those of the flour without
carriers. Flour with 30 g/100 g MD exhibited the highest values of
the parameter b* and hue among the groups. On the other hand, no
significant difference was observed in DE among the four flours.
The changes in color parameters observed in this study are in
agreement with the result reported by Ahmed, Akter, and Eun
(2010). The changes in color parameters are as a result of the
carrier addition and are associated with variation in phenols and
anthocyanins (Garcia-Viguera & Bridle, 1999; Mondy & Gosselin,
1988). As indicated by Choi, Kim, and Lee (2002), the formation

Fig. 3. Effects of soaking temperature and time on the water holding capacity (A and B), water absorption index (C and D) and water solubility index (E) of spray-dried purple sweet
potato flours. Values are means of triplicates and error bars represent the SD. Values at the same temperature or the same time bearing asterisk (*) are significantly different
compared to that of the flour without carrier (p<0.05). MD, b-CD, MD/b-CD and Control represent the flours prepared with addition of 30 g/100 g maltodextrin, 10 g/100 g b-
cyclodextrin, 24 g/100 g maltodextrin/b-cyclodextrin (5/1, w/w) mixture and without carrier, respectively. (-), control; ( ), b-CD; ( ), MD; ( ), MD/b-CD.
 Z. Peng et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 51 (2013) 348e355
of polymeric anthocyanin was partly responsible for the changes of
color values.
3.3. Flour fluidity and morphology
The angles of repose and slide are used to describe the fluidity of
flours. The addition of carrier improved the fluidity of the flours as
indicated by the decreased angles of repose and slide with carrier
(Table 1). In addition, the flour with MD had significant lower values
in repose and slide angles than those with b-CD and MD/b-CD. The
surface of the reference flour was quite irregular and dented
(Fig. 2A). This can be attributed to the disruption of starch granules
induced by heat. The disrupted starch granules are less compact and
come in larger particles. On the contrary, the surfaces of most starch
granules in flours with carriers were smooth (Fig. 2BeD) and only
a few of damaged surfaces were occasionally observed with larger
particles. This fact reflected the protective effects of carrier on starch
granules. Combined with Table 1 and Fig. 2, it is evident that the
fluidity of the flour is positively related with its particle size and
degree of agglomeration. The higher degree of agglomeration for
flour without carrier resulted from the interaction of disrupted and
sticky regions of starch granules (Goula & Adamopoulos, 2008).
3.4. Hydration properties of flours
Within the tested temperature and time, the WHC and WAI of
flours were presented in the carrier sequence of none>b-CD > MD/
b-CD > MD. This is just the opposite sequence of the degree of
agglomeration observed by SEM. In this context, the WHC and WAI
were largely dependent on the disruption of starch granules
(Aboubakar, Njintang, Scher, & Mbofung, 2008). The WHC and WAI
of flours increased with soaking temperature reaching maximum at
40
C then started to decrease (Fig. 3A and C). However, the WHC of
flours continuously increased with soaking time (Fig. 3B) and WAI
firstly increased with soaking time and reached to a plateau at
40 min (Fig. 3D). MD can form outer layers on the drops and alter
the surface stickiness of particles, therefore the flours with MD
present lower WHC and WAI (Grabowski et al., 2006).
As previously reported (Yadav, Mahadevamma, Tharanathan, &
Ramteke, 2007), the WSI of spray-dried flours increased with
temperature. In detail, only slight increase in WSI was found when
temperature varied from 20
C to 50
C (Fig. 3E). According to
report by Aboubakar et al. (2008), the low WSI values at this
temperature range might be caused by the existence of semi-
crystalline structure of the starch granules and the formation of
the hydrogen bonds between hydroxyl groups in the starch chains.
Further increase in temperature up to 80
C brought about
a dramatic increase in WSI. This was due to the fact that high
temperature induced the gelatinization of starch granules and
degradation of starch molecules (Nwokocha & Williams, 2009a;
Nwokocha & Williams, 2009b). Unlike the pattern of WHC, the WSI
of the flours decreased in the carrier order of none z b-CD < MD/b-
CD < MD. This suggested that carrier could retard the gelatinization
of starch granules.
Table 2
Mathematical expressions, coefficients of the determination (R2), mean relative percentage errors (E) and standard errors of estimate (SE) of selected sorption models for spray-
dried purple sweet potato flours at a relative humidity range of 7e98%.
Model Mathematical expressiona
Henderson ln m ¼ ln [ln [a/(1  aw)]/B]  lnA/B
Kuhn m ¼ a/ln aw þ b
Oswin m ¼ k0$[aw/(1  aw)]n0
Bradley lmð1=aw Þ ¼ K2 $K1M
Halsey aw ¼ exp(a/mn)
Chung-P ln aw ¼ A$exp(B$m)
a
aw is the water activity and m represents the equilibrium moisture content (dry basis).
353
Moisture sorption isotherms and their fitting parameters of the
flours at 25
C were shown in Table 2. Similar to the results
observed in other foods, EMC values of the flours increased with aw.
Although aw values of the flours decreased in the carrier order of
none<b-CD < MD < MD/b-CD at the same EMC no significant
difference was observed. When seven sorption models were tested
for their goodness-of-fits to describe the isotherms of the flours, the
Halsey model was selected due to its highest value of coefficient of
the determination (R2) and lowest absolute value of standard error
of estimate (SE). The nonlinear regression equations of this model
were aw ¼ exp(18.57/EMC1.32) (R2 ¼ 0.9983), aw ¼ exp(16.62/
EMC1.30) (R2 ¼ 0.9971), aw ¼ exp(13.36/EMC1.27) (R2 ¼ 0.9978) and
aw ¼ exp(11.76/EMC1.25) (R2 ¼ 0.9966) for flours without carrier
and those with carriers of b-CD, MD and MD/b-CD, respectively. In
these equations, aw represented the water activity and EMC was the
equilibrium moisture content on dry weight basis. Moisture sorp-
tion isotherms represent the equilibrium relationship between
water activity and moisture content of foods at constant pressure
and temperature. Moisture sorption characteristics are of impor-
tance in understanding processing and storage principles.
3.5. Bioactive components in the flours
As shown in Table 1, the anthocyanins content of spray-dried
flour without carrier was significantly higher than those with
various carriers. This may be due to the fact that the addition of
carrier decreased the fraction of sweet potato portion in spray-dried
flours. However, in terms of retention rate of anthocyanins, the value
of the flour without carrier was lower than that of flour with MD but
significantly higher than those of flours with b-CD and MD/b-CD.
Even for the flour with MD, spray drying brought about 15% loss of
anthocyanins. The loss of anthocyanins could be as a result of the
degradation and oxidation of anthocyanin pigments to colorless
substances (Choi et al., 2002; Garcia-Viguera & Bridle, 1999). From
Table 1, it was easy to conclude that the protective effects of
anthocyanins increased in the carrier sequence of MD > MD/b-
CD>b-CD. This was possibly due to the fact that MD could form thin
film around the drops and protect anthocyanins against oxidation.
As far as flavonoids and total phenolics content were concerned,
the values of spray-dried flours increased in the carrier order of b-
CD z MD/b-CD < none < MD (Table 1). Carriers of MD showed
significant protective effects against the loss of flavonoids and total
phenolics in the course of the spray drying. The higher total phenolic
content in flour with carrier of MD might be due to interference of
maltodextrin with the phenolic compounds during analysis
(Ahmed, Akter, Lee, et al., 2010). In addition, it was possible that the
higher degree of agglomeration for flour without carrier would
lower the exposure of flour to oxygen and therefore, protecting the
phenolic compounds from destruction (Quek et al., 2007).
3.6. Antioxidant capacities of the flours
DPPH radical scavenging activity, reducing power and lipid
peroxidation inhibition ability of methanolic extracts of the flours
R2 E (%) SE (%)
0.886e0.902 37.157 to 35.458 4.523e5.353
0.984e0.988 6.906e8.946 1.653e2.004
0.996e0.998 6.914 to 4.677 0.731e1.198
0.969e0.979 15.983 to 13.932 2.295e2.688
0.997e0.998 2.117e4.559 0.619e1.051
0.901e0.916 12.967 to 8.457 4.673e5.113
354 Z. Peng et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 51 (2013) 348e355

Fig. 4. DPPH radical scavenging activity (A), reducing power (B) and lipid peroxidation inhibition activity (C) of the methanolic extract from spray-dried purple sweet potato flours.
Values are means of triplicates and error bars represent the SD. Values at the same concentration bearing asterisk (*) are significantly different compared to that of the flour without
carrier (p < 0.05). MD, b-CD, MD/b-CD and control represent the flours prepared with addition of 30 g/100 g maltodextrin, 10 g/100 g b-cyclodextrin, 24 g/100 g maltodextrin/b-
cyclodextrin (5/1, w/w) mixture and without carrier, respectively. ( ), control; ( ), b-CD; ( ), MD; ( ), MD/b-CD.

increased with their concentration (Fig. 4). The antioxidant capac-
ities of flours at same concentration and their EC50 values were
presented in the carrier sequence of MD > none > MD/b-CD>b-CD
(Table 3). This was the same sequence for the content of flavonoids
and total phenolics.
3.7. Glass transition temperature
The addition of carriers significantly increased the glass transi-
tion temperature (Tg) of spray-dried purple sweet potato flours.
The Tg values of spray-dried flours increased in the carrier order of
MD (55.05
C)>MD/b-CD (54.70
C)>b-CD (54.30
C)>none
(51.53
C). The Tg values of flours with carriers were not dramati-
cally differed from that of MD and b-CD. The increases in Tg values
of flours with various carriers possibly due to the addition of
carriers (Ahmed, Akter, & Eun, 2010) and the lower moisture
content of carrier-incorporated flours (Goula & Adamopoulos,
2008) (Table 1). Goula and Adamopoulos, (2010) proposed that
the value of Tg was partly dependent on the moisture content of
flour with the higher the moisture content the lower the Tg.

Table 3 4. Conclusion
Concentration for 50% of maximal effect (EC50) of spray-dried purple sweet potato
flours in measurement of DPPH radical scavenging activity, reducing power and lipid This study investigated the effect of different carriers on the
peroxidation inhibition activity.
physico-chemical properties, bioactive components and antioxi-
Flour EC50 (mg/mL) dant capacity of purple sweet potato flours. Results of this study
DPPH radical Reducing Lipid peroxidation indicated that flours with carriers presented better fluidity (lower
scavenging activity power inhibition activity values in angle of repose and slide), and storage properties (lower
Controla 0.29  0.003c 3.23  0.01c 1.05  0.10c moisture content and higher Tg values) as compared to flours
b-CDa 0.37  0.003a 4.32  0.02a 1.56  0.03a without carrier. Flours with MD and MD/b-CD had higher antioxi-
dant components retention rates than flours with b-CD and
a
MD 0.24  0.005d 3.04  0.01d 0.72  0.04d
MD/b-CDa 0.34  0.006b 4.15  0.01b 1.34  0.04b
without carrier. Moreover, flours with 30 g/100 g MD and without
aed Values in EC50 bearing different lowercase letters indicate significant difference carrier exhibited higher experimental total phenolics, flavonoids
within the same antioxidant index by Duncan’s test (p < 0.05). content and antioxidant capacity than flours with MD/b-CD and b-
a
MD, b-CD and MD/b-CD represent the flours prepared with addition of 30 g/
100 g maltodextrin, 10 g/100 g b-cyclodextrin, 24 g/100 g maltodextrin/b-cyclo-
CD. Therefore, MD could be a better carrier in producing higher
dextrin (5/1, w/w) mixture and the control sample was the flour without addition of quality purple sweet potato flour than b-CD and MD/b-CD. These
any carrier. physicochemical properties of the flours are very important to
 Z. Peng et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 51 (2013) 348e355
ensure the production of high quality purple sweet potato flours.
Further study is required on the feasibility of incorporation of the
obtained flours into different foods and their impact on the host
foods.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the earmarked fund for China Agri-
culture Research System (cars-11-c-20) and the project of Chongqing
Science and Technology Commission (CSTC2009CB1001). We are
grateful to Uchenna Anunne for English language polishing.
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