On the effect of tastant excluded fillers on sweetness and saltiness of a model food

Texture-Modified Food for Dysphagic Patients: A Comprehensive Review

Food texture is a major food quality parameter. The physicochemical properties of food changes when processed in households or industries, resulting in modified textures. A better understanding of these properties is important for the sensory and textural characteristics of foods that target consumers of all ages, from children to the elderly, especially when food product development is considered for dysphagia. Texture modifications in foods suitable for dysphagic patients will grow as the numbers of elderly citizens increase. Dysphagia management should ensure that texture-modified (TM) food is nutritious and easy to swallow. This review addresses how texture and rheology can be assessed in the food industry by placing particular emphasis on dysphagia. It also discusses how the structure of TM food depends not only on food ingredients, such as hydrocolloids, emulsifiers, and thickening and gelling agents, but also on the applied processing methods, including microencapsulation, microgels as delivery systems, and 3D printing. In addition, we address how to modify texture for individuals with dysphagia in all age groups, and highlight different strategies to develop appropriate food products for dysphagic patients.

Reducing sugar and aroma in a confectionery gel without compromising flavour through addition of air inclusions

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Slight aeration of confectionery gels does not impact chewiness perception.

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Air as a low calorie inclusion in gels enhances sweetness perception over time.

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Reduction of aroma, sugar and calories in gels without affecting flavour perception.

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X-ray computed tomography to measure bubble size and distribution.

Sugar plays an important role in both the flavour and structure of confectionery. Targets have been set to reduce sugar; however, common strategies often result in changes in flavour and consumer rejection. In this study, an approach was developed to reduce sugar in confectionery gels by aeration, without significantly affecting perceived chewiness. Gelatine based gels with a 23% and 38% reduction in density were formulated using aeration. Mean bubble size was consistent across all gels (0.05–0.06 mm). Time-intensity sensory evaluation was carried out by a trained sensory panel (n = 10). With aeration, no significant difference in overall flavour perception was observed in the 23% and 38% reduced sugar and aroma gels. Air inclusions create a greater surface area, therefore accelerating mass transfer of volatiles and release of sucrose at the food-saliva interface. Consequently, we propose that less calorie dense products can be produced without compromising flavour by using gel aeration technologies.

Sodium ion interaction with psyllium husk (Plantago sp.)

The nature of and factors effecting sodium interactions with psyllium were investigated in vitro. In a batch extraction system, psyllium mucilage gel retained at least 50% of sodium across a range of concentrations (5-300 mg sodium per g psyllium) and pH (2-10) environments. FTIR and Na NMR analyses of psyllium gels indicated that binding was complex with non-specific multi-site interactions. The potential use of psyllium husk as a binding agent for the reduction of bioavailable sodium was therefore evaluated. The binding of sodium at physiologically relevant conditions (pH 1.2 (stomach) and 6.8 (intestine)) was studied in a gastrointestinal tract (GIT) pH simulated model. Results show consistently high sodium retention (∼50%) across the GIT model and less than 20% loss of bound sodium under the simulated intestinal pH conditions after repeated washings.

Sucrose release from polysaccharide gels

Sucrose release from polysaccharide gels has been studied extensively because it is expected to be useful in understanding flavour release from solid foods and to find a new processing method which produces more palatable and healthier foods.

Applicability of salt reduction strategies in pizza crust

In an effort to reduce population-wide sodium intake from processed foods, due to major health concerns, several different strategies for sodium reduction in pizza crust without any topping were evaluated by sensory analyses. It was possible to reduce sodium by 10% in one single step or to replace 30% of NaCl by KCl without a noticeable loss of salty taste. The late addition of coarse-grained NaCl (crystal size: 0.4-1.4 mm) to pizza dough led to an enhancement of saltiness through taste contrast and an accelerated sodium delivery measured in the mouth and in a model mastication simulator. Likewise, the application of an aqueous salt solution to one side of the pizza crust led to an enhancement of saltiness perception through faster sodium availability, leading to a greater contrast in sodium concentration. Each of these two strategies allowed a sodium reduction of up to 25% while maintaining taste quality.

Influence of texture on the perception of saltiness in wheat bread

As a basis for sodium reduction in bread, the influence of crumb texture on the intensity of saltiness and the release of sodium ions during chewing was investigated. A coarse-pored bread crumb was created by extending the proofing time (90/120 min vs 20/40 min as control), whereas the omission of proofing resulted in a fine-pored crumb (0/0 min). A significantly faster sodium release from the coarse-pored bread compared to the fine-pored bread (constant sample weight) was measured in-mouth and in a mastication simulator. This explained the significantly enhanced salty taste of the 90/120 min bread. Corresponding experiments with constant sample volumes revealed a significantly enhanced saltiness despite similar amounts of extracted sodium during the first seconds of chewing. Therefore, saltiness was influenced both by the velocity of sodium release and by crumb texture. Appropriate modification of crumb texture thus leads to enhanced saltiness, suggesting a new strategy for salt reduction in bread.

Enhancing saltiness in emulsion based foods

Background

The concept of enhancing saltiness perception in emulsions and a liquid food formulated with the emulsions (ambient vegetable soup) through increasing salt concentration in the continuous phase while retaining the fat content of the (aqueous continuous) product was evaluated. This was accomplished by increasing the droplet phase volume using duplex emulsion technology. Viscosity and droplet size distribution was measured. Saltiness evaluation was based on simple paired comparison testing (2-Alternate Forced Choice tests, BS ISO 5495:2007).

Results

Single and duplex emulsions and emulsion-based products had comparable mean oil droplet diameters (25 to 30 μm); however, viscosity of the duplex emulsion systems was considerably higher. Sensory assessment of saltiness of emulsion pairs (2AFC) indicated duplex technology enhanced saltiness perception compared to a single emulsion product at the same salt content (6.3 g/100 g) in both simple emulsions and the formulated food product (P = 0.0596 and 0.0004 respectively) although assessors noted the increased viscosity of the duplex systems. The formulated food product also contained pea starch particles which may have aided product mixing with saliva and thus accelerated tastant transport to the taste buds. Lowering salt content in the duplex systems (to levels of aqueous phase salt concentration similar to the level in the single systems) resulted in duplex systems being perceived as less salty than the single system. It appears that the higher viscosity of the duplex systems could not be “overruled” by enhanced mixing through increased droplet phase volume at lowered salt content.

Conclusions

The results showed that salt reduction may be possible despite the added technology of duplex systems increasing the overall measured viscosity of the product. The changes in viscosity behavior impact mouthfeel, which may be exploitable in addition to the contribution towards salt reduction. With a view to applying this technology to real processed foods, it needs to be tested for the product in question but it should be considered as part of a salt reduction tool box.