Tobacco fiber

Carmella, S.G., S.S. Hecht, D. Hoffmann, J.J. Lam, and T.C. Tso Effects of carboxymethylation of tobacco fiber on smoke catechol levels 37th Tobacco Chemists Research Conference, Program Booklet and Abstracts, Vol. 37, Paper No. 40,1983, p. 22. 

Fiber complexes of ten tobacco cultlvars as byproducts of the leaf protein extraction process contain levels of neutral and acid detergent fiber comparable to that of alfalfa fiber and in excess of that in wheat bran. Compositional analyses revealed lesser concentrations of cellulose, lignin, and lipid but a greater amount of hemlcellulose in tobacco than in alfalfa. In reference to wheat bran, tobacco fiber has comparable amounts of Na, P, S,... 

Mineral elements except phosphorus and molybdenum in the tobacco fiber were analyzed by use of Varlan AA-6 Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Samples were wet-ashed in nitric and perchloric acids (9 1, v/v) until completely digested. After evaporation to dryness, the ashes were solubllzed in IN HCl for analyses. Quantitation of phosphorus was a colorimetric method using a Technlcon Autoanalyzer and the color reaction of Fiske and Subbarow (IJ.). Molybdenum was quantitated by the method of Eivazi et al (12) which determines, with good reproducibility, a quantity as low as 0.02 ppm in plant materials. 

Nicotine contamination in tobacco fiber was assayed by the GLC equipped with an alkaline flame ionization detector. The extraction procedure and GLC conditions have been detailed in a recent paper 6). The sensitivity of detection is below 1 ppm. 

All these factors can contribute to the discrepancy between calculated and apparent hemlcellulose values. This led to the suggestion that the pretreatment of fibrous material with lipid extraction and proteolytic and amylolytic enzymes would minimize erroneous results (19). One can also anticipate differences between tobacco and alfalfa and among tobacco cultivars in chemical composition and structure variation of cell wall as well as the nature of complex formation involving cell wall constituents and other substances. It would be highly desirable to compare the sugar constituents of tobacco fiber components with those of conventional dietary fibers. 

The high concentration of iron and calcium in tobacco fiber would be desirable from a nutritional viewpoint. The bloavall-abillty of mineral elements in dietary fibers has been discussed in the literature ( ). Aside from fiber per se, phytic acid was found to be the major determinant of bivalent metal deficiencies (21). Phytate content is high in wheat bran and other... 

Presentations in this volume come from chemists, medical researchers, and microbiologists, as well as nutritionists and food scientists. In a few cases, rather exotic fiber types such as tobacco fiber, wheat straw lignin, or shellfish aminopolysaccharides are discussed. Other sources include psyllium, different legumes, and vegetable and fruit fibers. There is no doubt that additional unconventional fiber sources will be continuously identified and increasingly used. 

Comparison of the actual drying resuits with predictions from the models given by Eqs. (9.8) and (9.10) is shown in Figure 9.7. Clearly, the model based on moisture diffusion can be used to predict adequately drying kinetics of tobacco fibers in the mobilized bed dryer. 

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