Foods containing elevated levels of health functional components such as resistant starch and polyphenolic
antioxidants may have beneficial effects on human health. Pasta incorporating either red sorghum flour (RSF)
or white sorghum flour (WSF) each at 20%, 30% and 40% substitution of durumwheat semolina (DWS) was prepared
and compared to pastamade from100% DWS(control) for content of starch fractions, phenolic profile and
antioxidant capacity, before and after cooking. Total, digestible and resistant starch contentswere determined by
the AOAC method; individual phenolic acids and anthocyanins by reverse phase-HPLC analysis; total phenolic
content by the Folin–Ciocalteu method and antioxidant capacity by the ABTS assay. The addition of both RSF
and WSF increased the resistant starch content, bound phenolic acids, total phenolic content and antioxidant
capacity at all incorporation levels compared to the control pasta; while free phenolic acids and anthocyanins
were higher in the RSF-containing pasta only. Cooking did not change the resistant starch content of any of
the pasta formulations. Cooking did however decrease the free phenolic acids, anthocyanins, total phenolic
content and antioxidant capacity and increased the bound phenolic acids of the sorghum-containing pastas.
The study suggests that these sorghum flours may be very useful for the preparation of pasta with increased
levels of resistant starch and polyphenolic antioxidants.