Nutritional and functional properties of durum wheat bran protein concentrate

Plant industrial by-products are relatively low cost and rich in organic material. Although these by-products are a good source of various nutritional compounds, they represent the main disposal problem for the food industry. Wheat bran, one of the main by-products of the wheat milling industry, contains more than 15% high-quality proteins. However, these proteins are present in a form which is poorly digested as they are enclosed within a matrix of cell wall polysaccharides. About 15.5 million tonnes of usable protein could be recovered from bran if a commercial extraction process can be made viable. The purpose of this work was to extract protein from durum wheat bran using an improved alkaline -acid method and to study its nutritional and functional properties with the goal of using it as a fortifying material in cereal-based foods such as pasta and bread.