The influence of formulation and processing on stability of thiamin in three styles of Asian noodles

Asian styles of noodle products represent the end-use of at least one eighth of all wheat produced globally and are potentially a good dietary source of essential nutrients. In order to investigate the factors influencing thiamin content, three styles of noodles were made under controlled laboratory conditions. The losses during preparation of dried white salted noodles were low. Boiling of these noodles resulted in a 43% decline in total thiamin level. In contrast, the relative losses of thiamin were high for yellow alkaline noodles and these occurred at each step in the process including dough mixing and drying. For instant noodles decreases also occurred at each step and these were smaller than for yellow alkaline but greater than for white salted noodles. The variation in ingredients and processing accounts at least partially for differences in thiamin levels of different noodle styles.