| Abstract: | Nutrim is a newly developed food product containing dietary soluble fiber β‐glucan. The microstructural heterogeneities of Nutrim‐10 suspensions were investigated by monitoring the thermally driven displacements of well‐dispersed microspheres through video fluorescence microscopy. By comparing the distribution of the time‐dependent mean‐square displacement (MSD) of polystyrene microspheres embedded in three concentrations of Nutrim‐10 suspensions, we found that the degree of heterogeneity of suspensions increased dramatically within a narrow range of Nutrim‐10 concentrations. The ensemble‐averaged MSD of 5.5% Nutrim‐10 suspension exhibited a power‐law behavior scaling linearly with time, which was similar to the behavior for a homogeneous aqueous glycerol solution. But the MSD distribution was wider and more asymmetric than for glycerol. Increasing Nutrim‐10 concentration rendered the MSD distribution much more asymmetric and skewed. This study provided a quantitative method to characterize the organization of Nutrim‐10 in suspension. |
