Microalgae-enriched breadsticks: Analysis for vitamin C, carotenoids, and chlorophyll a

Abstract

Microalgae are a potential ingredient that can enhance the nutritional value of food. There are already various products made from microalgae such as pasta, cookies, breadstick, crackers, and extrudates. Moreover, these products have a typical green colour, provided from microalgae pigments. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the addition of Chlorella vulgaris and Arthrospira platensis biomass on vitamin C, total carotenoids, and chlorophyll a levels in breadsticks and its doughs. Microalgae addition in breadstick formulations is a viable alternative, because they presented a greater content of carotenoids and chlorophyll a than control breadsticks. Consequently, microalgae enriched breadsticks can provide health benefits to consumers. Here, Chlorella enriched breadsticks showed the highest studied pigments content. Despite microalgae powder containing vitamin C, breadstick dough did not present vitamin C and therefore nor the breadstick.

Physicochemical and rheological characterisation of microalgae-enriched ketchups and their sensory acceptability

“…Intermediate Spirulina concentrations caused the largest differences in colour whereas low values produce the lowest variations. This is due to higher content of Chlorophyll a and Phycocyanin, naturally presented in Spirulina, resulting in darken samples (Buono et al, 2014;Igual et al, 2021). Uribe-Wandurraga et al (2020 also observed this behaviour in microalgae-enriched emulsions and doughs.…”

“…Colour of the product can also be used as an indicator of freshness because extensive processing and the use of different ingredients can often lead to the deterioration of the typical colour (Intelmann et al, 2005) and Chlorella (Igual et al, 2021), lutein pigment in Chlorella (Dufossé, 2016) and βcarotene pigment in Dunaliella (Buono et al, 2014). These results may also suggest that the reaction kinetics of pigment degradation, upon high temperature processing, might depend on the initial pigment concentration (Batista et al, 2019).…”

Nutritionally improved pasta with Arthrospira platensis: effect of cooking on antioxidant capacity and pigments content

“…These values are similar to those previously discussed by several studies: Torres et al (2014) who developed pasta with wheat semolina flour added with 5% A. platensis obtained chlorophyll values of 10.74mg/100g of cooked pasta. Igual et al (2022) showed that the addition of A. platensis (1.5%/100g) in breadsticks caused the occurrence of chlorophyll a and carotenoids of approximately 8 mg and 1.75 mg/100g respectively after backing. Furthermore, Tańska et al (2017) by using extrusion-cooking process fabricated extrudates made of corn grits added with several percentages of A. platensis, among them 6 and 8%/100g.…”

Microalgae for The Food of Future: Spirulina sp. and Chlorella sp.

“…Dünya nüfusunun artmasıyla birlikte gıda endüstrisinde doğal, sürdürülebilir ürünlere ve alternatif kaynaklara olan talep gün geçtikçe artmaktadır [27]. Bu talebi karşılamak için zengin besin içeriği, antioksidan aktivitesi ve sağlık açısından olumlu etkileri olan mikroalgler potansiyel bir bileşen olarak görülmektedir [27]- [28], [50]. Fonksiyonel gıdaların geliştirilmesinde kullanılma potansiyeli olan mikroalgler ile zenginleştirilmiş makarna, un, kurabiye gibi çeşitli ürünler mevcuttur [21], [50].…”