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Benefits of Alternative Functional Food Ingredients in Bakery Products

Friday, 18 November, 2016, 08 : 00 AM [IST]

Dr A Thahira Banu

Introduction
Bakery products are ready-to-eat foods that are known for their better shelf life, portability, taste and nutritional value. When we say the word “Bakery” products,it pops up in our mind - cake, puff, pastries, cookies, muffins, pies, breads and biscuits. Among these items cakes, puffs, cookies and bread have almost replaced the traditional Indian breakfast items. Moreover the preference for bakery products by all age groups is increasing day by day. However though people are aware of the disadvantages of baked products they are unable to restrict their consumption. This article covers the information on different alternative functional food ingredients namely whey protein, rosemary, watermelon seeds, flaxseeds, seaweeds, that can be added to bakery products in order to improve their nutrient quality and benefit consumers.

Whey protein
Whey protein is a rich source of the essential amino acids and has high quality protein isolated from cow’s milk. Wheat flour protein quality can be improved by addition of whey protein supplements, which are high in lysine (Haupt etal., 1997).Whey protein contains all 20 amino acids and all nine essential amino acids, and it is a rich and balanced source of the sulphur amino acids that serve a critical role as antioxidants as precursors to the potent intracellular antioxidant glutathione and in one-carbon metabolism (Rie Tsutsumi, 2013).

The nutritional value of proteins is determined by their ability to supply nitrogen through the appropriate balance of essential and non-essential amino acids. The biological value is the ratio of the amount of nitrogen that is consumed to the amount of nitrogen that is absorbed, and this value is 74 for soy protein, 71 for casein, and 104 for whey protein. The protein efficiency ratio indicates the increase in body weight associated with an intake of 1 g protein, and the protein efficiency ratio is 2.0 for soy protein, 2.5 for casein protein, and 3.0 for whey protein. Protein-related nutritional status is assessed using growth in infants and children, while the maintenance of nitrogen balance plays a critical role in adults. The proteins in whey have a variety of roles and immune-related functions (Rie Tsutsumi, et al., 2013). Whey proteins contain all the essential amino acids and are rich in lysine.Bakery products are mostly prepared with wheat flour, commonly the cereals are deficient in the amino acid lysine.The incorporation of the whey protein in bakery products may improve the quality of protein.

Whey protein can be added to the baked products if high fibre flour, millet flour or whole wheat flour are used for baking. Whey protein when added helps to improve the texture by its water binding property. In case of using whole grain flour or flours with flaxseed, pumpkin seed or millet flour it may contain soluble or insoluble fibre. In case of flour with soluble fibre it may pose the problem of gumminess. This can be resolved using whey protein. The other functional property that whey protein can tackle is compensating for the gluten content. The whole grain flour or flour with high fibre will have low gluten content which produces negative effect on the volume of the products. Thus whey protein can mimic the structure of gluten. Whey proteins are amphophilic in nature and can act as shortening or emulsifier thus can be used in low fat baked products and the trans fat levels can be reduced in the baked products. In baking 25% of the flour can be replaced by whey protein and this will be of a benefit to individuals on low carbohydrate diet.

Whey protein in baked products can be a good replacement of 50% for eggs, 25% for fat and flo
ur. We can start with 2-3% inclusion of whey protein powders.
There can be drawbacks while adding more whey protein like quick browning and adjustment in addition of water and other ingredients are to be considered.

Rosemary
Rosemarinus officinalis L. an evergreen perennial aromatic shrub belonging to the family Labiatae, commonly called rosemary, native to the north and south coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and is a common household plant Al-Sereiti, 1999.

Rosemary composed of dried leaves and flowers constitutes a particularly interesting source of biologically active phytochemicals as it contains a variety of phenolic compounds including carnosol, carnosic acid, rosmanol, 7-methyl-epirosmanol, isorosmanol, rosmadial and caffeic acid, with substantial in vitro antioxidant activity (El Deeb; Herrero et al., 2010).

Rosemary is used as an antispasmodic in renal colic and dysmenorrheal, in relieving respiratory disorders and to stimulate hair growth. Extract of rosemary relaxes smooth muscles of trachea and intestine, and has choleretic, hepatoprotective and antitumergenic activity. Moreover, rosemary constituents have a therapeutic potential in the treatment or prevention of bronchial asthma, spamogenic disorders, diabetes mellitus, peptic ulcer, inflammatory diseases, hepatotoxicity, atherosclerosis, ischemic heart diseases, cataract, cancer and poor sperm motility (Al-Sereiti et al., 1999; Masuda et al., 2002; Sotelo-Fleix et al., 2002; Osakabe et al., 2004).

Rosemary is known for its phytochemical, addition of components and is referred to as a memory booster. Addition of rosemary to baked products is believed to extend shelf-life and maintain flavour.

It is also found that rosemary used in baked products has helped to reduce rancidity. The bakery products prepared with incorporation of Omega 3 fatty acids, flax seeds and nuts are found to be easily rancid. Addition of rosemary has helped to delay the organoleptic changes of the baked products. The products with rosemary are for that case any herbs added and should be indicated in the label.

Rosemary helps to enhance the antioxidant property of the products. A maximum of 2 to 5 gram of Rosemary was found to be most acceptable in muffins and cakes developed.

Watermelon seed
The watermelon seed cake is a good source of protein supplement (Mustafa, 2011). The relatively high saponification value recorded for the seed oils is indicative that it may have potential for use in the industry (Amboo et al., 2004).

Watermelon seeds are a source of protein, B vitamins, minerals (such as magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, sodium, iron, zinc, manganese and copper) and fat among others (Vandermark, 2011; Collins et al., 2007).

Watermelon seed has an important role in the people's diet because of its full nutritious particles and it is general and common usage as roasted seeds,sprouted seeds, seed oil, or medicine for decreasing the blood pressure. The watermelon seed averagely consist of 31.9% protein, 4.4% carbohydrates, 57.1% fat, 8.2% fibre, 6.2% ash, 130 mg calcium, 456 mg phosphorus, 7.5 mg iron. Watermelon seeds also contain the necessary amino acids such as Leucine, Isoleucine, Tryptophan and Valine (Seyed, 2006). Normally the watermelon seeds are underutilised, alternatively the watermelon seeds are incorporated into the bakery products, it may enhance the nutritional values.

Watermelon seed flour can be an alternative for individuals on low carb or paleo diet. The seeds can be ground using a coffee grinder and can be used for making puff, Danish pastry and cookies. It can be an alternative for costly nuts like almonds, cashews or pistas. It acts as a functional food and is best suited for people suffering with autoimmune disease.

Flaxseed
   Flaxseed contains 55% of alpha linoleic acid and best known plant origin seed with PUFA content. It has plant lignin (phytoestrogen) and found to be useful to fight against cancer related to uterine and breast. It has essential nutrients namely folic acid, vitamins and minerals. In baking, flaxseed can be added as a whole seed or in form of powder. It gives good appearance and adds to the texture of the products.

Adding flaxseed can also act as a replacer of shortening agent or other added fats.The lignan found in the cover of flaxseed called secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) is a antioxidant that prevents rancidity of fats. Flaxseed added to bread is reported to increase the fermentation and proofing time. The quantity of yeast has to be increased and oven temperatures need to be slightly decreased to prevent browning.
   Experimentation with flaxseed powder in baked products made us understand that a maximum of 10% of the flour can be alternated with flaxseed flour to give acceptable products.

Seaweeds
Seaweeds are used as sources of food for human nutrition in many countries because these natural resources are rich in soluble dietary fibre, protein, mineral, vitamins, antioxidants and poly unsaturated fatty acids with a low calorific value (Mohammed et al., 2012). Marine macro algae possess a great variety of bioactive compounds characterised by a broad spectrum of biological activities. Compounds isolated from marine macro algae have demonstrated various biological activities such as anti-bacterial activity, antioxidant potential, anti-inflammatory properties, anti-coagulant activity, anti-viral activity and apoptotic activity (Chaturvedi et al., 2011).

Kadam and Prabhakar (2010) reported that bakery products are widely consumed throughout the world and are the best sources of incorporating marine functional ingredients and reaching targeted population. The water-holding capacity of seaweeds is closely related to the polysaccharide composition of the dietary fibre fractions and therefore the gelation process will depend on the type and amount of their polysaccharides (Sanchez Alonso et al., 2006). Elleuch et al., (2010) stated that the physicochemical properties such as swelling capacity, water-holding capacity and oil-holding capacity, which are important for improvement of functional properties of food. Bakery products contain low amount of fibre. Seaweeds contain a high amount of fibre and possess more biological activities. Seaweeds incorporated into bakery products will enhance the fibre content. Normally seaweeds are of different colours and have undesirable odour. Bakery products are best source for the incorporation of seaweeds, because flavour emanating on baking may dominate the odour of the seaweeds. Seaweeds are abundantly available in the coastline but utilisation is very low in the form of fresh and dried form. Seaweeds incorporated into bakery products help in increasing the utilisation of seaweeds and add value to the product.

Conclusion
   The review focussed the importance of functional ingredients like whey protein, rosemary, watermelon seeds,flaxseed and seaweeds. It is concluded that incorporation of the above functional ingredients may improve the quality of the bakery products in many aspects like taste, flavour, texture and nutritional, phytonutrient composition. It can act as a functional food ingredient and help in prevention of degenerative disease and improve the nutritional status across the population. However further research investigations are needed to address the health enhancing potential of the functional food ingredients incorporated in bakery products.

Reference
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(The author is assistant professor, department of home science, Gandhigram Rural Institute, Gandhigram, Tamil Nadu. She can be contacted at thaaze@gmail.com)