Marangoni’s research has demonstrated the relationship between food microstructure and physiological response in humans.  It facinating and important work.  I hope you will join us for a luncheon event organized by the Center for Advanced Nutrition.  Please RSVP.    The luncheon and speaker talks will be held at the Junction on USU campus.

ABSTRACT

Structuring liquid oils using non-conventional strategies: organogels, crystal hydrates and polymers

Alejandro G. Marangoni

Dept. of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G2W1, Canada

Increasing public concerns over excessive saturated and trans fat intake from manufactured food products has lead to the search for alternative strategies to structure liquid oils into semisolid fats without addition of large amounts of unhealthy trans and saturated fats. Surfactant-like small molecules have been shown to self-assemble into long fibrils, effectively causing oil gelation at concentrations as low as 0.5%. Phytosterols, ceramides, and 12-hydroxystearic acid have been shown to be effective organogelators. Liquid oils can also be structured by microencapsulation within multilamellar vesicles, with walls composed of monoglyceride hydrates in the alpha-gel state. The surface potential of these monoglyceride vesicles is then adjusted so as to maximize inter-vesicle interactions and the formation of a cellular solid with oil-filled cells. These monoglyceride gels have recently been proven to have excellent functional characteristics in baking applications as well as for omega-3 oil stabilization. High-molecular weight polymers such as ethylcellulose have also been successfully used by our group to gel oil in the absence of water. This development of a polymer-stabilized organogel is very promising since these polymers are widely available and are food-grade. The development of a new way to make fat exploiting the self-assembly properties of food-grade molecules is at hand.

ABOUT DR. ALEJANDRO MARANGONI

Alejandro Marangoni is a professor and Canada Research Chair in Food and Soft Materials Science at the University of Guelph.

His work concentrates on the physical properties of foods, particularly fat crystallization and structure. He has published over 200 refereed research article and four books.

He is the recipient of many awards including a 1999 Premier’s Research Excellence Award, the first Young Scientist Award form the American Oil Chemists’ Society (2000), a Canada Research Chair (2001, renewed in 2006), two Distinguished Researcher Awards from the Ontario Innovation Trust (2002), a Career Award from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (2002), an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship (2002) – given to the top 6 Canadian scientists from all disciplines – and the T.L. Mounts Award from AOCS in 2004.

Dr. Marangoni is a past chair of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Plant Biology and Food Science Grant Selection Committee, member of NSERC’s E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship selection committee, Editor-in-Chief of Food Research International (Elsevier), and an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society (Springer).

Dr. Marangoni has co-founded two high-technology food companies and is the co-recipient of the 2008 Guelph Partners of Innovation “Innovator of the year” award for his discovery of a zero trans, low saturate shortening alternative which could revolutionize the baking industry.

In elevated levels, OEA can reduce appetite, produce weight loss and lower blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels according to the study.   They also show that OEA also causes memory consolidation.   For more information on this topic please visit: http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Fats-help-memory-last-longer-Study/?c=2FUzm2DP3dOigjM0dIPslw%3D%3D&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BDaily

For the scientific article, please refer to:  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Doi: 10.1073/pnas.0903038106 “Fat-induced satiety factor oleoylethanolamide enhances memory consolidation”  Patrizia Campolongoa, Benno Roozendaalb, Viviana Trezzac, Vincenzo Cuomoc, Giuseppe Astaritaa, Jin Fua, James L. McGaughb, and Daniele Piomellia.

Fifteen adults volunteered to evaluate the effect of different vegetable oils-partially hydrogenated soybean oil, palm oil, canola oil, and soybean oil- on the levels of LDL “bad” cholesterol.   

The findings suggest that consuming either of the diets enriched with equivalent high amounts of palm oil or partially hydrogenated soybean oil would result in similar unfavorable levels of LDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein B. That’s when compared to consuming either of the diets enriched with canola and soybean oils high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, respectively.

Let’s be honest, food consumers can be fickle and major brands are understandably concerned about risking the equity built in the name. Consumer loyalty can be shattered if there is only a slight change in branded product’s sensory attributes.

Sensory panels may tell us that they actually prefer the taste of a new and healthier product … however if a new healthier product is only slightly different than the original, a better product may not be worth the risk to a multi-billion dollar brand.

It is therefore not surprising that food companies have eliminated or reduced trans fats using whatever economically viable solution presents the least amount of risk to the brand.

The prevailing solution for eliminating or reducing trans is to substitute a recipe with palm oil or a palm oil fraction. Palm oil is readily available and economically viable alternative. Unfortunately spiking world demand for palm oil as edible fat and a bio-fuel feedstock
is fueling concern from environmentalist around the globe.

Evidence presented by many suggests that the myristic and palmitic fatty acids found in palm oil are associated with a greaterrisk of cardiovascular disease. Palm advocates on the other hand dispute the claims and suggest that other components in palm oil support their assertion that palm oil is a healthy oil.

The food industry is certainly confronted with a difficult choice when choosing between reformulation options.

Ultimately the consumer will for vote saturates or fewer saturates with their wallets, or the government will step in and force changes as we have seen with trans fat labeling regulations.

Until that time palm oil will continue to prevail as the optimum solution for industry challenged to eliminate or reduce trans fatty acids and maintain consumer acceptance.

Dairy Management Incorporated, through its unified National Dairy  Foods Research Center has organized a panel of expert cheese researchers to develop low-fat cheeses with wide consumer appeal. 

Some of the research institutions invovled in this project include the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences at Utah State University, through the Western Dairy Center, the Department of Food Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Department of Food, Bioprocessing & Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University. 

The Food and Drug Administration regulations state that, to be labeled low-fat, cheese must contain no more than 6% fat by weight.  In the case of cheddar, this represents  an 80% reduction from its full-fat version.  A reduced-fat cheese label, requires a 25% fat reduction!

Low-fat cheese research is focused on mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.  Several processing technolgies are being investigated to reduce the fat level on these products while maintaining their functional properties, such as melting behavior, buttery flavor and texture.  Some of these strategies include the use of monoglycerides, lecithin and starches.  More information about this topic can be found at http://www.innovatewithdairy.com

Eating Omega-3-rich foods has been linked to lower rates of heart disease. Here’s how to up your intake.

Today, omega-3s seem to be just about everywhere. Just push your cart through the aisles of any supermarket and you’ll find omega-3s added to all manner of foods and beverages, including breakfast cereals, eggs, orange juice, and margarine. Even some pet foods have them! It shows how far these beneficial fats have come, capturing the attention of nutrition scientists and food manufacturers alike.

Our research laboratory specializes in the physical and chemical properties of edible fats and oils.

By building scientific knowledge of edible fats and oils we can develop new food materials and processes that will lead to food products with superior nutritional and physiochemical properties.

Our research facilities also include one the leading Sensory Evaluation facilities in the United States.

This increases your chance of developing heart disease. So it’s a good idea to reduce your intake of saturated fat. You can do this by:

• eating less of foods that are high in saturated fat
• choosing options that are lower in saturated fat
• going for unsaturated fats instead of saturated

 Most people in the UK eat too much saturated fat – about 20% more than the recommended maximum amount.

• The average man should have no more than 30g saturated fat a day.
• The average woman should have no more than 20g saturated fat a day.
• Children should have less saturated fat than adults.

Most people don’t have time to add up the amount of saturated fat they are eating every day. But it’s a good idea to take a look at how much saturated fat is in different foods. Then you’ll see that eating certain foods, especially in large quantities, can make it easy to eat more than the recommended maximum amount of saturated fat.

If you know which foods are high in saturated fat – and which are lower – then you can make choices each day to help reduce your intake of saturated fat.

Having some fat in our diet helps the body absorb some vitamins. Fat is a good source of energy and it provides essential fatty acids that the body can’t make itself.

But eating lots of fat can make you more likely to put on weight because foods that are high in fat are also high in energy (calories). And eating a diet that is high in saturated fat can raise the level of cholesterol in your blood, over time, which increases your chance of developing heart disease.

So it’s important to try to eat less fat and go for foods that are rich in unsaturated fats instead of saturated. You can find out more about the different types of fat in this section.

(this post extracted from Food Standards Agency at  http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/fss/)  SB.

The World Health Organization (WHO) sites the following facts related to overweight and obesity:

• Globally, there are more than 1 billion overweight adults, at least 300 million of them obese.
• Obesity and overweight pose a major risk for chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer.
• The key causes are increased consumption of energy-dense foods high in saturated fats and sugars, and reduced physical activity.

According to the WHO:

• currently more than 1 billion adults are overweight – and at least 300 million of them are clinically obese.
• Childhood obesity is already epidemic in some areas and on the rise in others. An estimated 22 million children under five are estimated to be overweight worldwide.
• according to the US Surgeon General, in the USA the number of overweight children has doubled and the number of overweight adolescents has trebled since 1980.
• the prevalence of obese children aged 6-to-11 years has more than doubled since the 1960s.
• obesity prevalence in youths aged 12-17 has increased dramatically from 5% to 13% in boys and from 5% to 9% in girls between 1966-70 and 1988-91 in the USA.
• obesity accounts for 2-6% of total health care costs in several developed countries; some estimates put the figure as high as 7%.
• the true costs are undoubtedly much greater as not all obesity-related conditions are included in the calculations.

The rapid rise in overweight and obesity in the Unites States is graphically and emphatically depicted in a series of slides at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/index.htm

The WHO clearly states that to cure the obesity epidemic and associated chronic diseases we must reduce consumption of saturated fats in favor of unsaturated fats. 

This means a switch away from highly saturated shortenings commonly used by the food industry and a switch to next generation shortenings  such those described in a previous post and the low saturated fat shortening alternative technology available from Coasun Inc.  www.coasun.com   SB.