FORMULATION OF VALUE ADDED LOW-CALORIE, HIGH FIBRE BISCUITS USING FLAX SEEDS AND STEVIA REBAUDIANA

Worldwide scientists are focusing on developing functional food products which are healthy and low in calories. The possibility of incorporating roasted flax seeds flour (RFF) and substituting sugar with Stevia rebaudiana leaves powder (SLP) for developing nutritious, healthier and high quality biscuits has been investigated. Overall six biscuit formulations were designed besides control. SLP was used as a natural sweetener and RFF was used as a source of dietary fibre. Standardisation was done by evaluating the sensory quality of the formulated biscuits prepared from a mixture of blends. As soon as standardisation of blends was completed, the standardised flour mix was used to formulate biscuits by substituting sucrose with SLP at levels of 5.5%, 6%, 6.5%, 7%, 7.5% and 8%. The treatment (T₄) was found to be the best among different variations on the basis of sensory evaluation with incorporation of 8% (RFF) and 7% (SLP) resulted in increased moisture (7.57%), ash (3.69%), protein (18.88 g/100g), fat (10.97 g/100g), fibre (4.52 g/100g), calcium (408.23 mg/100g), phosphorus (445.03 mg/100g) and iron (10.01 mg/100g) content in comparison to control (T₀) which was high in calories (384 Kcal/100g) and carbohydrate (62.34g/100g) content. Thus, results signify that incorporation of RFF at 8% and SLF at 7% enhance the functional properties of developed biscuits by reducing the calorie density and improving the health benefits.