Gluten-Free Snacks Using Plantain-Chickpea and Maize Blend: Chemical Composition, Starch Digestibility, and Predicted Glycemic Index

An increase in celiac consumers has caused an increasing interest to develop good quality gluten-free food products with high nutritional value. Snack foods are consumed worldwide and have become a normal part of the eating habits of the celiac population making them a target to improve their nutritive value. Extrusion and deep-frying of unripe plantain, chickpea, and maize flours blends produced gluten-free snacks with high dietary fiber contents (13.7-18.2 g/100 g) and low predicted glycemic index (28 to 35). The gluten-free snacks presented lower fat content (12.7 to 13.6 g/100 g) than those reported in similar commercial snacks. The snack with the highest unripe plantain flour showed higher slowly digestible starch (11.6 and 13.4 g/100 g) than its counterpart with the highest chickpea flour level (6 g/100 g). The overall acceptability of the gluten-free snacks was similar to that chili-flavored commercial snack. It was possible to develop gluten-free snacks with high dietary fiber content and low predicted glycemic index with the blend of the 3 flours, and these gluten-free snacks may also be useful as an alternative to reduce excess weight and obesity problems in the general population and celiac community.