Food Innovation in the Frame of Circular Economy by Designing Ultra-Processed Foods Optimized for Sustainable Nutrition

Abstract

Despite the large debate about the relationship between ultra-processed foods and the prevalence of some diet-related diseases, the innovative potential of various processing technologies has been evidenced in pathways that could lead to modifications of the food matrix with beneficial health effects. Many efforts have been directed toward the conjugation of a healthy diet and sustainable exploitation of natural resources for the preparation of accessible foods. This minireview highlights the possible links between processing, sustainability, and circular economy through the valorization of by-products that could be exploited to prepare nutrient-rich ingredients at lower economic and environmental costs. The assessment of the quality and safety of functional foods based on ingredients derived from food waste requires a more robust validation by means of the food-omics approach, which considers not only the composition of the final products but also the structural characterization of the matrix, as the bioaccessibility and the bioavailability of nutrients are strictly dependent on the functional characteristics of the innovative ingredients.

The ultra-processed foods hypothesis: a product processed well beyond the basic ingredients in the package

“…Conversely wholegrain products are subject to rancidity, shorter shelf lives and longer fermentation times, thereby increasing waste. Additives in grains increase shelf life, in turn benefiting the planet (59,60) . Enzymatic and chemical treatments are also processing steps, often performed, together with refining, by food manufacturers.…”

Nutritional senolytics and senomorphics: Implications to immune cells metabolism and aging – from theory to practice

“…Well-designed clinical trials evaluating the effect of nutritional senotherapeutics on these outcomes are urgently needed. Nutrition science can improve this field, making use of gastrotechnics and molecular gastronomy knowledge to develop new food products enriched in these nutritional senotherapeutics, that can be tested in clinical trials and subsequently included in a personalized nutrition scheme ( 137 , 138 ).…”

“…All of these factors highlight the necessity for a fresh approach to the research on nutritional senotherapeutics, probably following different directions. In the field of food innovation ( 137 ), integrating these nutritional senotherapeutics into novel food items may be a way to improve research and increase food options sustained in the scientific background that can be easily integrated into individual eating patterns ( Figure 4 ).…”

Affordable Nutrient Density in Brazil: Nutrient Profiling in Relation to Food Cost and NOVA Category Assignments

“…Other studies have also pointed to a conflict between high nutrient density ratings and UPF category assignments [ 37 , 38 , 39 ]. We now provide further evidence—for Brazil—that some nutrient-rich foods appear to fall into the category of UPF.…”