Fructane potatoes – health promoting dietary fibre in a novel tuber

G. Knipp, B. Honermeier, Giessen

Inulin, a fructane and soluble dietary fibre, has been gaining in importance in food manufacture. In the late nineties the Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology succeeded in establishing the metabolic pathway of fructane synthesis by gene transfer from artichokes to potatoes. Inulin is synthetized in a starch storing plant so far not capable of synthetizing fructane.

Studies of yield and carbohydrate composition of fructane potatoes were conducted in 2001–2003 at the institute of plant cultivation and plant breeding of the university of Giessen as part of a project of safety research sponsored by the Federal Minister of Education and Research. The results have shown the transgenetic lines and the original cultivar Désirée to have the same harvest index. The fructane content of the tubers was up to 3 % of dry matter and in a negative correlation to their starch content. The changes observed, according to the directive 2001/18/EU, are negligible. However, further research and development is needed before the novel tuber may be marketed as functional food.

Key words: Fructane / inulin / dietary fibre / health promoting

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