Product developers are looking beyond salt, sugar and fat reduction, to consider other ways to improve the nutritional profile of their products. Foods that make you feel full for longer and low glycemic index (GI) products which can help maintain blood glucose levels are a particular area of interest. Dr Pretima Titoria from Leatherhead Food Research focuses on the role enzymes can play in improving the health benefits of existing products.
Frozen ready meals provide a useful alternative to cooking from ‘fresh’ for people with busy lifestyles. As with the ambient and fresh product categories, manufacturers of frozen products have responded to consumer demand for healthier options, resulting in more frozen foods that are lower in sugar, salt and saturated fat. In addition to this, quick freezing technologies can deliver frozen foods with improved nutritional value, as they are frozen before the nutrients have time to diminish.
The food and beverage industry is now taking their innovations one step further and focusing significant investment on the development of food and drink products with added health benefits linked to weight and nutrition management.
Enzymes are a particularly interesting ingredient for product developers in this context. Certain enzymes can make molecules bond together, creating new macromolecular structures and giving the foodstuff new functional properties. They have traditionally been used by the industry to alter the texture of foods, for example in the production of surimi (paste made from fish or meat), ham and sausages, but the opportunities for enzymes to improve the health benefits of products are now gaining attention in product innovation circles.
Are you full yet?
An emerging class of enzymes (called cross-linking enzymes) such as transglutaminases, tyrosinases, peroxidases and laccases, can be used to modify food proteins to increase the satiating effect (or the extent to which a product makes you feel full) of a product. Theses enzymes modify the food structure in such a way, making it harder for the consumer to digest the product and thus making those consumers feel full for longer. Crucially, however, this process leaves the nutritional properties of the product unchanged. Studies where the structure of casein (a milk, protein-based model) has been altered by using transglutaminase have shown an impact on the appetite of healthy males. Results showed feelings of fullness were greater after consumption of the casein cross-linked by transglutaminase compared with the consumption of regular casein and whey proteins.
How low can you go?
The development of low glycemic index (GI) foods is another example of a health-specific use of enzymes. Low GI foods are beneficial in the prevention and treatment of a number of chronic diseases. Eating low GI foods slows down the rate of carbohydrate digestion, which helps to maintain blood glucose levels, manage insulin response and provide extended energy absorption. Different starches have different rates and extents of digestion in the body. Eating a rapidly digestible starch (RDS) creates a rapid increase in blood glucose levels and subsequent insulin response. Slowly digestible starch (SDS) is digested at a much slower rate resulting in moderate glycemic and insulin response. Using SDS to improve the blood glucose response of foods is of increasing interest to food manufacturers and health professionals alike. For example, maize starch can be modified using β-amylase and transglucosidase. This dual enzyme treatment has been shown to increase the molecular chains in the structure of the starch, thereby creating a starch with a slowly digestible character and lowering its GI.
The future for enzymes is ‘clean’
As consumer demand for food and drink products with health benefits grows, so too do the opportunities for enzymes. While more research is needed, enzymes show enormous potential as a novel way of altering the structure of food matrices and ultimately introducing health benefits to food and drink formulations. Not only do enzymes offer tremendous opportunities to innovation teams creating products with health benefits, but because enzymes are usually deactivated and may result in non-catalytic proteins, the enzymes may not remain in the final product. If the enzyme does not need to be included on ingredient labels, this enables manufacturers to achieve the clean label they desire. Leatherhead has expertise in food rheology (texture and mouthfeel), microscopy (visualization of micro-structure which influence the textural properties) and food processing. We can advise and support manufacturers in the use of enzymes to develop products with health and nutritional benefits.
