Use of protein and polysacharides to obtain structured oils:fat replacement and curcumin delivery

• Grant number: 21/06863-7
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: December 01, 2021 - November 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Engineering
• Principal researcher: Miriam Dupas Hubinger
• Grantee: Miriam Dupas Hubinger
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos (FEA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The demand for healthier foods creates a market trend towards the development of low-fat food products. The production of these lowered fat foods is a challenge for the industry, since trans and saturated fats promote desirable characteristics to the products such as texture, structure, sensory properties, besides configuring shelf-life increase in some cases. However, when these fats are consumed in excess they can lead to cardiovascular diseases. In addition, RDC nº 332 de 23/12/2019, which restricts the use of trans fats for food application and prohibits the use of partially hydrogenated fats, and RDC No. 429 of 10/8/2020, which will highlight the fat content and sugar content in foods, is generating a race and search of Brazilian industries for saturated fat substitutes, in order to reduce the impact of fat content and nutritional value that will be declared on the packaging. Therefore, the study of alternatives to replace such fats in foods are of extreme importance. In this context, the present project aims to investigate and obtain structured oils, namely bigels, emulgels, oleogels, high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) and high internal phase Pickering emulsions (HIPPEs) as possible substitutes of fat.The project's main objective is to use different polysaccharides and proteins to obtain structured oils, through direct and indirect methods, with the purpose of replacing trans, saturated and partially hydrogenated fats. In addition, the incorporation of a bioactive compound, curcumin, to bigels, will also be studied. As a final result, it is expected that it will be possible to obtain structured oils with different characteristics and composed of different materials, which will offer alternatives to industries and consequently to consumers to replace trans, saturated and partially hydrogenated fats with healthier alternatives. (AU)