Health & Medicine
Changing Pore Size In Processed Foods Can Help Reduce Salt Intake
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Apr 13, 2015 12:00 AM EDT
Researchers at the University of Illinois have found that manipulating the porosity during food manufacturing can affect its health benefits.
During the study, they controlled the number and size of pores in processed foods, allowing manufactures to use less salt but still satisfying consumers' taste buds.
Findings revealed that they could manage pore pressure in foods while reducing oil uptake that resulted in lower-fat snacks without having to sacrifice the texture and taste of certain items.
"Six in 10 American adults either have high blood pressure or are on the borderline of this diagnosis largely because they eat too much salt," said researcher Younsoo Lee of the university in a state statement regarding salt. "Overconsuming salt is also associated with the development and severity of cardiovascular and bone diseases, kidney stones, gastric cancer, and asthma."
"Much of the salt that is added to these foods is not released in our mouths where we can taste it, and that means the rest of the salt is wasted," he added. "We wanted to alter porosity in processed food, targeting a certain fat-protein emulsion structure, to see if we could get more of the salt released during chewing. Then food manufacturers won't have to add as much salt as before, but the consumer will taste almost the same amount of saltiness."
Furthermore, researchers discovered that increasing porosity changed the way that foods broke apart when they were chewed, exposing the surface area and increasing saltiness.
Using this porous media approach help them better understand the behaviors of water, oil and gas during frying and how it created strategies that help optimize the frying process, reducing oil uptake and lowering fatty-foods.
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First Posted: Apr 13, 2015 12:00 AM EDT
Researchers at the University of Illinois have found that manipulating the porosity during food manufacturing can affect its health benefits.
During the study, they controlled the number and size of pores in processed foods, allowing manufactures to use less salt but still satisfying consumers' taste buds.
Findings revealed that they could manage pore pressure in foods while reducing oil uptake that resulted in lower-fat snacks without having to sacrifice the texture and taste of certain items.
"Six in 10 American adults either have high blood pressure or are on the borderline of this diagnosis largely because they eat too much salt," said researcher Younsoo Lee of the university in a state statement regarding salt. "Overconsuming salt is also associated with the development and severity of cardiovascular and bone diseases, kidney stones, gastric cancer, and asthma."
"Much of the salt that is added to these foods is not released in our mouths where we can taste it, and that means the rest of the salt is wasted," he added. "We wanted to alter porosity in processed food, targeting a certain fat-protein emulsion structure, to see if we could get more of the salt released during chewing. Then food manufacturers won't have to add as much salt as before, but the consumer will taste almost the same amount of saltiness."
Furthermore, researchers discovered that increasing porosity changed the way that foods broke apart when they were chewed, exposing the surface area and increasing saltiness.
Using this porous media approach help them better understand the behaviors of water, oil and gas during frying and how it created strategies that help optimize the frying process, reducing oil uptake and lowering fatty-foods.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone