Biomimetic plant foods: Structural design and functionality

Newman

Comp Rev Food Sci Food Safe

2019

286

174

Many consumers are interested in decreasing their consumption of animal products, such as bovine milk, because of health, environmental, and ethical reasons. The food industry is therefore developing a range of plant‐based milk alternatives. These milk substitutes should be affordable, convenient, desirable, nutritional, and sustainable. This article reviews our current understanding of the development of plant‐based milks. Initially, an overview of the composition, structure, properties, and nutritional profile of conventional bovine milk is given, because the development of successful alternatives depends on understanding the characteristics of real milk. The two main production routes for fabricating plant‐based milks are then highlighted: (i) disruption of plant materials (such as nuts, seeds, or legumes) to form aqueous suspensions of oil bodies; (ii) formation of oil‐in‐water emulsions by homogenization of oil, water, and emulsifiers. The roles of the different functional ingredients in plant‐based milks are highlighted, including oils, emulsifiers, thickeners, antioxidants, minerals, and other additives. The physicochemical basis of the appearance, texture, and stability of plant‐based milks is covered. The importance of the sensory attributes and gastrointestinal fate of bovine milk and plant‐based alternatives is also highlighted. Finally, potential areas for future work are discussed.

Section: Formation Of Plant‐based Milk Substitutesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Constructed Fat Globulesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant‐based Milks: A Review of the Science Underpinning Their Design, Fabrication, and Performance

Newman

Comp Rev Food Sci Food Safe

2019

286

174

“…Plant-based milk substitutes with physical properties and sensory attributes fairly similar to cow's milk can be produced from plant-based ingredients, such as plant-derived emulsifiers, oils, and others [10]. In this case, the plant-based ingredients are combined together to form an emulsion using a homogenization step (Figure 1b).…”

Section: Simulated Fat Globulesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Next-Generation Nutritionally Fortified Plant-Based Milk Substitutes: Structural Design Principles

2020

Foods

145

Consumers are increasingly interested in decreasing their dietary intake of animal-based food products, due to health, sustainability, and ethical concerns. For this reason, the food industry is creating new products from plant-based ingredients that simulate many of the physicochemical and sensory attributes associated with animal-derived foods, including milk, eggs, and meat. An understanding of how the ingredient type, amount, and organization influence the desirable physicochemical, sensory, and nutritional attributes of these plant-based foods is required to achieve this goal. A potential problem with plant-based diets is that they lack key micronutrients, such as vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, and ω-3 fatty acids. The aim of this review is to present the science behind the creation of next-generation nutritionally fortified plant-based milk substitutes. These milk-like products may be formed by mechanically breaking down certain plant materials (including nuts, seeds, and legumes) to produce a dispersion of oil bodies and other colloidal matter in water, or by forming oil-in-water emulsions by homogenizing plant-based oils and emulsifiers with water. A brief overview of the formulation and fabrication of plant-based milks is given. The relationship between the optical properties, rheology, and stability of plant-based milks and their composition and structure is then covered. Approaches to fortify these products with micronutrients that may be missing from a plant-based diet are also highlighted. In conclusion, this article highlights how the knowledge of structural design principles can be used to facilitate the creation of higher quality and more sustainable plant-based food products.

“…The role of food structure as key variable to achieve controlled nutrient digestion is a topic often explored in recent literature. According to different authors, regulated breakdown of macronutrients could be achieved by generation or preservation of structural barriers modulating enzymatic access to enclosed substrates (1)(2)(3)(4) . In plant-based foods, major recommended components of a healthy and environmentally sustainable diet (5) , macronutrients are naturally encapsulated by parenchyma cells.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such potential is being currently explored for different nutrients, including starch. Starch that keeps on being (partially) encapsulated throughout passage in the gastrointestinal tract is considered positive since it allows (s)low glucose release in the small intestine and the delivery of resistant starch to the colon (1,28) .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of process-induced common bean hardness on structural properties of in vivo generated boluses and consequences for in vitro starch digestion kinetics

et al. 2019

In the present study, we evaluated the effect of process-induced common bean hardness on structural properties of in vivo generated boluses and the consequences for in vitro starch digestion. Initially, the impact of human mastication on the particle size distribution (PSD) of oral boluses from common beans with different process-induced hardness levels was investigated through a mastication study. Then the effect of structural properties of selected boluses on in vitro starch digestion kinetics was assessed. For a particular process-induced hardness level, oral boluses had similar PSD despite differences in masticatory parameters between participants of the mastication study. At different hardness levels, a clear effect of processing (P<0·0001) was observed. However, the effect of mastication behaviour (P=0·1141) was not significant. Two distinctive fractions were present in all boluses. The first one was a cotyledon-rich fraction consisting of majorly small particles (40–125 µm), which could be described as individual cells based on microscopic observations. This fraction increased with a decrease in process-induced hardness. The second fraction (>2000 µm) mostly contained seed coat material and did not change based on hardness levels. The in vitro starch digestion kinetics of common bean boluses was only affected by process-induced hardness. After kinetic modelling, significant differences were observed between the reaction rate constant of boluses generated from the hardest beans and those obtained from softer ones. Overall this work demonstrated that the in vitro nutritional functionality of common beans is affected to a greater extent by structural properties induced by processing than by mechanical degradation in the mouth.