What question did this study set out to answer?

The study aims to compare the physicochemical and thermal properties of various commercial soluble dietary fibers to evaluate their performance as glass formers.

March 12, 2026Open Access

Comparative study of physicochemical and thermal stability of different commercial soluble dietary fibres as alternative glass formers for spray-dried food powders

Key Points

The study aims to compare the physicochemical and thermal properties of various commercial soluble dietary fibers to evaluate their performance as glass formers.
Characterization of four soluble dietary fibers: inulin, gum arabic, nutriose, and polydextrose.
Assessment of moisture content, water activity, solubility, hygroscopicity, and morphological properties.
Utilization of advanced techniques like FE-SEM, PSD, UATR-FTIR, X-RD, and DSC.
All fibers showed very high solubility, with inulin having the highest solubility.
Gum arabic had the highest moisture content but the lowest water activity.
Nutriose and gum arabic demonstrated higher glass transition temperatures, indicating better plasticization resistance.

Abstract

The rising demand for functional low-calorie ingredients with improved powder stability has increased interest in soluble dietary fibers (SDFs) as alternatives to conventional maltodextrins. These fibers differ in molecular structure and water interaction, influencing their ability to form stable amorphous matrices during spray drying. However, direct comparative evaluations of their intrinsic physicochemical and thermal properties remain limited. This study compared commercial Orafti® inulin (inulin), TIC PRETESTED® GUM ARABIC FT POWDER (gum arabic), Nutriose®FB 06 (nutriose), and STA-LITE®III Polydextrose (polydextrose) to elucidate their structure – function relationships as standalone glass formers. Each fiber was characterized for moisture content, water activity, solubility, hygroscopicity, morphology (field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), particle size distribution (PSD), universal attenuated total reflectance-fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (UATR-FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (X-RD), water sorption isotherm Formula: see text, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). All fibers exhibited very high solubility Formula: see text, with inulin achieving Formula: see text. Gum arabic showed the highest moisture content Formula: see text but the lowest water activity Formula: see text while polydextrose recorded the highest Formula: see text Formula: see text Hygroscopicity ranged from Formula: see text(inulin) to Formula: see text (gum arabic). The Guggenheim – Anderson – de Boer (GAB) model accurately described sorption data Formula: see text, revealing differences in monolayer moisture Formula: see text and multilayer adsorption. Gum arabic and nutriose exhibited higher glass transition temperatures Formula: see text, indicating greater resistance to plasticization, whereas inulin showed lowest Formula: see text due to its semi-crystalline structure. Overall, synthetic resistant dextrins (gum arabic and nutriose) provided the most balanced performance in solubility, hygroscopic stability, and thermal resistance, supporting their potential use as sustainable glass formers in spray-dried food systems with extended shelf life

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Cite This Study

Parlan et al. (Sun,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69b2587296eeacc4fcec81ce https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/10942912.2026.2638074

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