Pectins are plant cell wall natural heteropolysaccharides composed mainly of α-1-4 d-galacturonic acid units, which may or may not be methyl esterified, possesses neutral sugars branching that harbor functional moieties. Physicochemical features as pH, temperature, ions concentration, and cosolute presence, affect directly the extraction yield and gelling capacity of pectins. The chemical and structural features of this polysaccharide enables its interaction with a wide range of molecules, a property that scientists profit from to form new composite matrices for target/controlled delivery of therapeutic molecules, genes or cells. Considered a prebiotic dietary fiber, pectins meetmany regulations easily, regarding health applications within the pharmaceutical industry as a raw material and as an agent for the prevention of cancer. Thus, this review lists many emergent pectin-based composite materials which will probably palliate the impact of obesity, diabetes and heart disease, aid to forestall actual epidemics, expand the ken of food additives and food products design.

Wheat bran is a by-product of milling, which has a high nutrient content. However, it is not broadly consumed by humans, but used for animal feed. Wheat bran contains more than 15% high-quality proteins, but most of them are enclosed within a matrix of cell wall polysaccharides and so they are poorly digested, resulting in the annual waste of 15.5 million tons of usable protein. The search for uses of these proteins has been mainly oriented towards their incorporation as fortifiers into food systems, so they have been extracted and characterized in terms of both nutritional and functional properties. Wheat bran proteins have also been explored as a source of amino acids and bioactive peptides or as inhibitors of enzymes of industrial interest. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no extensive exploitation of these proteins.

Blends made of wheat flour and bean meal at various levels of moisture and bran content, were subjected to extrusion cooking by varying temperature and screw speed. Extrudates were analysed for expansion index, bulk density, apparent viscosity, water absorption index and water solubility index using a second-order rotatable central composite design. Excepting water absorption index, functional properties were significantly affected ( p<0.05) by levels of moisture, bran or extrusion conditions. Expansion index decreased with increasing levels of moisture in the blends; for bran the effect was the inverse. Response surface solution for apparent viscosity was maximum at 24% levels of moisture, 209r.p.m., 180°C and 10% bran. For water absorption index the response surface solution was a saddle point, with a minimum at 29% levels of moisture, 232r.p.m., 177°C and 25% bran. The higher apparent viscosity and lower absorption index reflected minor damage to starch and proteins, which was attributed to a protective role of the added fibre.