Relevancia nutricional de alimentos funcionales: reformulación de cárnicos tradicionales

Abstract

The growing interest in maintaining good health status through optimal nutrition has boosted the launch of a number of functional foods on the market. The first objective of this project was to evaluate the nutritional relevance of the incorporation of functional foods in currently consumed diets and balanced diets. This was done by substituting conventional foods by foods enriched in several nutrients and analyzing the final supply of these nutrients in the two types of diets. We concluded that diets designed according to current food guidelines presented iodine, vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids deficiencies and currently consumed diets presented, on average, fiber deficiency and, above all, iodine and vitamin A deficiencies. Moreover, the substitution of conventional food products by enriched food products contributed to reduce the observed deficiencies, especially in the case of diets designed by professionals. The following objective of this project was to develop new formulations of Bologna-type sausages with healthier lipid profile in order to contribute to increase the bioactive compounds in the diet. A first approach was to study the thermal stability of oils rich in monounsaturated fatty acids and phytosterols (olive oil and avocado oil), which could be potentially used as functional ingredients. The comparative study of the two oils, allowed concluding that they both present similar thermal oxidative stability. Avocado oil showed higher content in phytosterols and worse omega-6/omega-3 ratio than olive oil. The strategies used to improve meat products nutritional properties were reducing the fat content of cooked meat products and improving the lipid profile of these cooked meat products, which were stabilized by plant extracts in order to limit lipid oxidation. We observed that the substitution of pork back fat by an O/W emulsion system with carrageenan as emulsifier allowed to obtain low energy value products (down to 86 kcal /100g) with significant contents of omega-3 fatty acids. Besides, the use of algae oil in the production of these type of sausages allowed to obtain foods that provide 88% of Adequate Daily Intake of DHA+EPA per portion (50g). We confirmed the effective antioxidant activity of hydro-alcoholic and aqueous extracts of Melissa officinalis when used in cooked meat products enriched in omega-3 fatty acids. Also, in the case of the aqueous extracts, the effectiveness lasted for 32 days under refrigeration. No negative effects were observed on the sensory quality of developed products. Finally, we proved that the use of a phenolic extract obtained from olive oil mill wastewater (75 mg/100 g) was an effective strategy to minimize lipid oxidation in high fat pork sausages, including the accumulation of COPs, besides giving added value for being a by-product. All products maintained their typical sensory properties.