Plant-based gummy candy helps vegans and vegetarians get their vitamins


Date:
November 10, 2021
Source:
American Chemical Society
Summary:
Worldwide, millions of people follow vegan and vegetarian diets for
religious, ethical, environmental or economic reasons. While these
diets have purported health benefits, they can also lack essential
nutrients, such as vitamins B12 and D3, if not well-planned
or supplemented correctly. Now, researchers have packed a
strawberry-flavored gummy with these vitamins, formulating it
without any animal products so vegans and vegetarians can reach
their recommended daily allowances (RDA).



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Worldwide, millions of people follow vegan and vegetarian diets for
religious, ethical, environmental or economic reasons. While these diets
have purported health benefits, they can also lack essential nutrients,
such as vitamins B12 and D3, if not well-planned or supplemented
correctly. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Food Science & Technology
have packed a strawberry-flavored gummy with these vitamins, formulating
it without any animal products so vegans and vegetarians can reach their recommended daily allowances (RDA).


==========================================================================
Some essential vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin B12, are found exclusively in animal products, while others can be obtained from
other sources. For example, humans can make vitamin D3 when their skin
is exposed to sunlight, but many people aren't outside enough to meet
the requirement for this vitamin. Therefore, it is primarily consumed
through fish, eggs and organ meats, which are not eaten by vegans and
some vegetarians. To avoid the pitfalls of vitamin deficiencies, people
who adhere to plant-based diets often take supplements, but it's been challenging to put both vitamin B12 and vitamin D3 in one pill because
of their differing solubilities. One solution could be to put them into emulsion-filled gels, such as gummy candies. Previous researchers have
shown that pectin, a plant-based polysaccharide, can be used as a gelling
agent in animal product-free foods. So, Samantha Pinho and colleagues
wanted to see if they could use only plant-based ingredients, such as
pectin, to produce a gummy candy enriched with vitamins B12 and D3 that
would be acceptable to consumers.

The researchers first made an emulsion, combining citrate buffer, inulin,
gum arabic, flaxseed oil and vitamin D3, and separately made the pectin
gel, dissolving a type of pectin, calcium chloride and vitamin B12
in a citrate buffer. Then, by rapidly stirring the emulsion into the
pectin gel with sugar, the team produced an emulsion-filled gel. The
gel became a reddish gummy material after it dried. To develop this
into a suitable food product, the researchers added a natural strawberry
flavor and molded the gel into half- inch-wide candies. In sensory tests,
120 untrained panelists gave the gummies high scores for taste, color,
aroma and overall acceptability. About half of the panelists said they
would buy the enriched gummy, with another 36% saying they might buy
the product. The researchers say their results pave the way to make food products more nutritious.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by American_Chemical_Society. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Marluci Ghiraldi, Beatriz G. Franco, Izabel C. F. Moraes,
Samantha C.

Pinho. Emulsion-Filled Pectin Gels for Vehiculation of Vitamins
D3 and B12: From Structuring to the Development of Enriched Vegan
Gummy Candies.

ACS Food Science & Technology, 2021; DOI:
10.1021/acsfoodscitech.1c00271 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211110104636.htm

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