# _Psyllium_ and _Laminaria_ Partnership--An Overview of Possible Food Gel Applications
## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Physicochemical Characterization of Samples  
_Psyllium_ gel prepared with autohydrolysis (AH) liquor (PsyL) was visually more fluid than the _Psyllium_ gel prepared with water (control). This is confirmed by texture and rheology measurements, so this issue will be discussed in Sections 3.3 and 3.4.  
As seen in Figure 1, the _Laminaria-Psyllium_ 75.25 gel samples presented syneresis (water in the filter paper, not measured) more evident in the sample not submitted to ultrasonic treatment. According to the previous study in which the puree-like mixtures were optimized [17], the authors did not find syneresis in the systems. This could be due to the alga high sodium content that bonds to _Psyllium_, and at the 25% ratio was not able to retain all the water in the system, causing the _Laminaria-Psyllium_ 75.25 gels to contract and release part of the water previously enclosed. This phenomenon did not occur in samples with higher _Psyllium_ gel ratios. A recent study by [PERSON] and co-workers [21] reported the positive influence of _Psyllium_ on the absence of syneresis of fruit jellies enriched with dietary fiber.  
In Table 1, a chemical characterization of _Psyllium_ husk and the developed gels is presented.  
The moisture content of the _Laminaria-Psyllium_ gels depends greatly on the proportion of both components, and decreased with the increase in _Laminaria_ content. Ash content revealed the reverse trend, with the _Laminaria_ proportion being crucial for the final gel mineral content. This is due to the high ash content (35%, d.b.) of this alga, as we previously determined [17]. It is also noteworthy that the ultrasonic treatment applied to the puree-like mixtures had a significant (\(p<0.05\)) negative influence on the total ash content of the gel, especially in the 25.75 and 50.50 samples.  
Sulfate presence in the _Laminaria-Psyllium_ gels is a clear indication of the presence of fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide with reported activity against stomach-gastric adenocarcinoma cells and lung carcinoma cells [22].  
The most important chemical feature of _Psyllium_ husk is its high soluble fiber content (80%, d.b., as previously determined by the authors in the same sample [10]. However, aside from its fiber content, _Psyllium_ husk has a mineral composition of 10.3 g K/kg, 0.88 g Na/kg, 1.36 g Ca/kg, and 94.7 mg Fe/kg, (present study), the last two minerals having a higher content than most cooked pulses [23].  
Another important feature is _Psyllium_'s ability to retain sodium at physiological important conditions (pH 1.2--stomach; pH 6.8--intestine), being potentially active in reducing the bioavailable fraction of ingested sodium in the body [24].  
Considering both the _L. ochroleuca_[17] and _Psyllium_ husk's mineral content, one can conclude that the partnership between this alga and _Psyllium_ husk could be advantageous for the development of new food products.  
Water activity was very high and ranged between 0.999-1.000 for all samples (data not shown) and these are typical values for gels, although some reduction was expected in gels with a high proportion of _Psyllium_.