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Introduction
Development of low glycemic index (GI) baked products is a major challenge to the bakery industry in view of the prevalence of diabetes in the present world. Diabetes is an autoimmune disorder characterized by impaired insulin secretion or utilization which hinders carbohydrate, protein and lipid metabolism leading to hyperglycemia. About 422 m people suffer from diabetes worldwide (FAO, 2017) and the situation in India is very alarming with 69.1 m people under its influence. It is estimated to affect 134.5 m Indians by the end of 2030 (International Diabetic Federation, 2015). Bakery products like biscuits, crackers, cakes, muffins, etc. are generally made from wheat flour, which has medium to high GI, and addition of ingredients like sugar enhances the GI further, which makes the bakery products unsuitable for diabetic patients. Diabetic bakery (i.e. low GI bakery) not only atracts the people diagnosed with high blood sugar but also those who are concerned about their family propensity toward the disease. For development of low GI bakery products, there is need to explore some low GI food sources and innovative ingredients viz-a-viz, modification of baking and post-baking process. Many authors have reported the use of freezing and then frozen storage as a possible way of reducing GI in baked foods (Borczak et al., 2008; Rosin et al., 2002).
Cereal flours other than wheat like maize, oat, rye and rice have been explored in the past by many researchers for the development of bakery products (Hussein et al., 2011; Venipriyadharshini, 2018; Paucean et al., 2016). The authors suggested that more studies are needed in this regard. Also, the rising consumer demands for low GI bakery have led to search for more innovative raw materials and ingredients. Water chestnut flour (WCF) has low GI and therefore can serve as a good raw material in the development of diabetic bakery products (Yasuda et al., 2014). However, WCF lacks gluten which restricts its possibility of replacing wheat flour fully in bakery products. Gluten-free baked products lack the textural and sensory attributes, exhibited by gluten-containing equivalents. Barley has about 5–8 percent gluten and is considered as a functional food because of its β-glucan content and low GI value (Baba et al., 2014). Several researchers...