Physicochemical properties and biological functions of soluble dietary fibers isolated from common and Tartary buckwheat sprouts

Buckwheat sprout is widely consumed as a potential functional and healthy vegetable. Although buckwheat sprout is abundant in soluble dietary fibers (SDFs), the information about their structural properties and biological functions remains unclear, which largely limits their potential applications as functional foods. Therefore, to promote the rational usage of SDFs from buckwheat sprouts in the functional food industry, their physicochemical properties and biological functions were investigated. Results revealed that buckwheat sprouts were rich in SDFs (41.2–43.3, mg/g). SDFs isolated from both common and Tartary buckwheat sprouts possessed similar chemical structures, mainly consisting of rhamnogalacturonan-I with arabinan and arabinogalactan as side chains. However, their molecular masses were different, which ranged from 2.526 × 105 (common buckwheat) to 17.781 × 105 Da (Tartary buckwheat). In addition, the presence of a large number of pectic-polysaccharides may contribute to the remarkable in vitro beneficial effects of buckwheat SDFs, such as in vitro antioxidant, antiglycation, and anti-cancer effects. These findings can be conducive to better understanding the physicochemical properties and biological functions of SDFs isolated from common and Tartary buckwheat sprouts, laying the foundation for their applications as functional food ingredients.