Physiochemical properties of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals

Thirty-six branded ready-to-eat breakfast cereals from various manufacturer s were purchased at a local grocery store. Expansion ratio, bulk density, p ore volumes, and water solubility and absorption properties were analyzed. The expansion ratios varied from 1.0 to 17.3 units. The densities of the pr oducts ranged from 0.08 to 1.44 g/cm(3). The density values were inversely proportional to the expansion ratio. In general, higher sugar contents enha nced expansion, whereas higher protein and fiber contents reduced expansion . Increasing fiber content correlated with increasing product density, whil e increasing sugar content generally correlated negatively with density. Th e percentage of pore volume attributed to open pores varied from 68.2 to 99 .5%. Higher starch, protein, and fiber contents tended to reduce the open p ore volume, whereas sugar tended to increase it. The water solubility and w ater absorption values ranged from 6.3 to 86.4% and from 2.5 to 6.3 g/g, re spectively. Higher starch and protein contents in the products generally co rrelated with reduced water solubility, while higher sugar contents correla ted with increased water solubility. Conversely sugar content reduced the w ater absorption indexes while starch generally enhanced it.