Inulin: Properties, health benefits and food applications.

Health awareness has grown to a greater extent among consumers and they are looking for healthy probiotic counterparts. Keeping in this view, the present review focuses recent developments in dairy and non-dairy probiotic products. All over the world, dairy probiotics are being commercialized in many different forms. However, the allergy and lactose intolerance are the major set-backs to dairy probiotics. Whereas, flavor and refreshing nature are the major advantages of non-dairy drinks, especially fruit juices. Phenotypic and genotypic similarities between dairy and non-dairy probiotics along with the matrix dependency of cell viability and cell functionality are reviewed. The heterogeneous food matrices of non-dairy food carriers are the major constraints for the survival of the probiotics, while the probiotic strains from non-dairy sources are satisfactory. Technological and functional properties, besides the viability of the probiotics used in fermented products of non-dairy origin are extremely important to get a competitive advantage in the world market. The functional attributes of dairy and non-dairy probiotic products are further enhanced by adding prebiotics such as galacto-oligosaccharide, fructo-oligosaccharide and inulin.

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Trends in dairy and non-dairy probiotic products - a review.

Due to the issues like lactose intolerance and milk allergy arising from the consumption of cow’s milk, there has been an increased demand in the plant based alternative milks around the world. Food industry has addressed these demands by introducing various milk beverages which are promoted as alternatives coming from plant sources which include almond milk and soy milk. Though they are popularly advertised as healthy and wholesome, little research has been done in understanding the nutritional implications of consuming these milk beverages in short term and long term. Further, consumers associate these alternatives to be a direct substitute of cow’s milk which might not be true in all cases. This review tries to address the issue by outlining the differences between cow’s milk and commercially available alternative milks in terms of their nutrient content. Though various plant based alternate milks have been studied, only the four most consumed milk beverages are presented in this review which are consumed widely around the world. A complete nutritional outline and the corresponding health benefits of consuming these plant based milk beverages have been discussed in detail which could help the consumers make an informed decision.

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How well do plant based alternatives fare nutritionally compared to cow’s milk?

Application of inulin in cheese as prebiotic, fat replacer and texturizer: a review.

Inulin as a heterogeneous blend of fructose polymers is diversely found in nature primarily as storage carbohydrates in plants. Besides, inulin is believed to induce certain techno-functional and associated properties in food systems. Inulin owing to its foam forming ability has been successfully used as fat replacer in quite a wide range of products as dairy and baked products. Furthermore, it is known to impart certain nutritional and therapeutic benefits that extend apart to improve health and reduce the risk of many lifestyle related diseases. Additionally, as a functional ingredient, Inulin has been adopted in various efficacy studies involving animal and human studies to function as a prebiotic, in promoting good digestive health, influencing lipid metabolism and has some beneficial roles in ensuring optimum levels of glucose and insulin. This review article is an attempt to present a comprehensive overview on both techno-functional and therapeutic potential of inulin.

Functional and therapeutic potential of inulin: A comprehensive review

Commercial thickeners used by patients with dysphagia: Rheological and structural behaviour in different food matrices

The functional effects of lipase (0.003 and 0.006 g/100 g of flour) and emulsifier (0.5 and 1 g/100 g of flour) on fat-replaced (0%, 50% and 70%) batters and cakes with inulin (0, 7.5 and 10 g/100 g/of flour, respectively) were studied. Emulsifier addition significantly lowered the relative density of the batter. Emulsifier incorporation increased the viscoelastic properties of the batter. In contrast, lipase incorporation decreased the degree of system structuring. The evolution of the dynamic moduli and complex viscosity with rising temperatures were studied. Batters with 1 g/100 g emulsifier displayed a significantly lower complex viscosity during heating, resulting in collapsed cakes. Differential scanning calorimetry results revealed that the thermal setting in the control cakes occurred at higher temperatures, and accordingly, greater cake expansion was observed. Cakes with 0.003 g/100 g lipase or 0.5 g/100 g emulsifier displayed volume and crumb cell structure that were similar to those of control cakes. Higher concentrations of both improvers gave rise to cakes with lower volume, higher hardness and lower springiness. During storage time, cakes with lipase displayed lower hardness. Both improvers, at low concentrations, could improve certain physical characteristics, such as crumb structure, of fat-replaced cakes with inulin.

Functionality of lipase and emulsifiers in low-fat cakes with inulin

Functional advantages of probiotics combined with interesting composition of oat were considered as an alternative to dairy products. In this study, fermentation of oat milk with Lactobacillus reuteri and Streptococcus thermophilus was analysed to develop a new probiotic product. Central composite design with response surface methodology was used to analyse the effect of different factors (glucose, fructose, inulin and starters) on the probiotic population in the product. Optimised formulation was characterised throughout storage time at 4 ℃ in terms of pH, acidity, β-glucan and oligosaccharides contents, colour and rheological behaviour. All formulations studied were adequate to produce fermented foods and minimum dose of each factor was considered as optimum. The selected formulation allowed starters survival above 107/cfu ml to be considered as a functional food and was maintained during the 28 days controlled. β-glucans remained in the final product with a positive effect on viscosity. Therefore, a new probiotic non-dairy milk was successfully developed in which high probiotic survivals were assured throughout the typical yoghurt-like shelf life.

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Optimisation of oat milk formulation to obtain fermented derivatives by using probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri microorganisms

Sponge cakes have traditionally been manufactured using multistage mixing methods to enhance potential foam formation by the eggs. Today, use of all-in (single-stage) mixing methods is superseding multistage methods for large-scale batter preparation to reduce costs and production time. In this study, multistage and all-in mixing procedures and three final high-speed mixing times (3, 5, and 15 min) for sponge cake production were tested to optimize a mixing method for pilot-scale research. Mixing for 3 min produced batters with higher relative density values than did longer mixing times. These batters generated well-aerated cakes with high volume and low hardness. In contrast, after 5 and 15 min of high-speed mixing, batters with lower relative density and higher viscosity values were produced. Although higher bubble incorporation and retention were observed, longer mixing times produced better developed gluten networks, which stiffened the batters and inhibited bubble expansion during mixing. As a result...

Optimizing Mixing during the Sponge Cake Manufacturing Process

The roles of some cake ingredients – oil, a leavening agent, and inulin – in the structure and physicochemical properties of batter and cakes were studied in four different formulations. Oil played an important role in the batter stability, due to its contribution to increasing batter viscosity and occluding air during mixing. The addition of the leavening agent was crucial to the final height and sponginess of the cakes. When inulin was used as a fat replacer, the absence of oil caused a decrease in the stability of the batter, where larger air bubbles were occluded. Inulin dispersed uniformly in the batter could create a competition for water with the flour components: gluten was not properly hydrated and some starch granules were not fully incorporated into the matrix. Thus, the development of a continuous network was disrupted and the cake was shorter and softer; it contained interconnected air cells in the crumb, and was easily crumbled. The structure studies were decisive to understand the physicochemical properties.

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Julia Rodríguez-García

Papers

Commercial thickeners used by patients with dysphagia: Rheological and structural behaviour in different food matrices

Functionality of lipase and emulsifiers in low-fat cakes with inulin

Optimisation of oat milk formulation to obtain fermented derivatives by using probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri microorganisms

Optimizing Mixing during the Sponge Cake Manufacturing Process

Functionality of Several Cake Ingredients: A Comprehensive Approach