Due to increasing consumer demand for healthy foods, attempts are being made to improve their nutritional value. Thus, there is a necessity to develop food bars enriched with dietary fiber and palatable nutritional components. The aim of this study was to evaluate the shelf life of food bars, prepared with different proportions of marolo pulp flour (20,30,40, and 50% replacement of oatmeal) for six-month storage, through nutritional and physical analysis, as well as sensory acceptance. The total dietary fiber content showed an average of 7.1 g⋅100 g −1 . There was a significant increase in antioxidant activity, vitamin C, and total carotenoids content according to increasing concentration of marolo pulp flour in the food bars. In sensory evaluation, the food bar with addition of 50% marolo pulp flour showed higher averages for all evaluated attributes and was the favorite by the evaluators.
IntroductionBrazil is a country with enormous biodiversity, and Cerrado is its second largest biome, with many native species that produce fruits with excellent nutritional, sensorial, and functional potential. However, most of these fruits remain poorly explored scientifically [1].The marolo (Annona crassiflora Mart.) is a typical fruit of the Brazilian Cerrado and is among the 20 most common species in regional food [2]. da Silva et al. of dietary fiber, and 1830.6 mg⋅kg −1 vitamin C. The fiber constituting the edible portion of plants is resistant to digestion and absorption in the small intestine, playing an important role in gastric emptying and control of peristalsis. It fulfills an important role in nutrition, promoting beneficial effects for health and may delay the onset of chronic diseases and improving the quality of life [4].Due to the increasing consumer demand for healthy food, attempts are being made to improve the nutritional value of foods such as cereal bars [5]. The consumption of such food has grown due to its convenience, with the change in people's lifestyle.The expanding market for cereal bars and foods recognized as healthy products is leading the industry to diversify the variety of flavors and attributes, such as products enriched with nutrients; products developed for a specific group of people or with new features that benefit health [6,7].Given the above, we see the need to develop food bars enriched with dietary fiber, nutritional components, and palatable taste. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the shelf life of food bars, made with marolo pulp flour in different concentrations, during the period of 6 months,