Effect of different excipients on physicochemical properties of the functional rice bran tablet: univariate and multivariate studies on a novel food supplement

Nowadays, consumers pay attention to the health-related properties of the food as well as their nutritional worth. Rice bran includes high amounts of proteins, fats, minerals, B vitamins and dietary fibers. These properties can contribute to health enhancement through declining the rate of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, renal stones and hyperlipidemia. In this study, the influence of gelatin, xanthan, and guar gums (at 0, 5, and 10%) on the physicochemical, shelf life, sensory and image properties of functional rice bran tablets was investigated. The results displayed that the gums addition leads to changes of tablets chemical properties. The acidity and peroxide content of the gum-containing samples was significantly lower than the control sample. The highest amount of disintegration time, hardness and moisture content was observed in samples containing 10% xanthan in first and 30th days of storage. Sensory analysis revealed that gelatin, xanthan and guar did not significantly affect the color, aroma, taste and flavor of the rice bran tablets. Sensory panelists liked the samples containing 10% xanthan in terms of texture and overall acceptance as an excellent food supplement. Principal component analysis (PCA) allowed categorizing specialties. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) models were applied to find out the relationships between sensory and instrumental data.