An year, the demand for foods that do more than provide nutrients to the body is growing in Brazil. Increasingly, consumers are interested in products that also contribute to maintaining their health. Study carried out for Mirela Guedes Bosi's doctoral thesis, defended at the Faculty of Food Engineering (FEA) at Unicamp, brings new contributions to this expanding market. The researcher developed new technologies for the manufacture of light and fat-free curd cheeses, both enriched with dietary fiber, substances that provide several physiological benefits. “I believe that the research opens up the prospect for new products with these properties to be launched by the industry”, assesses the author of the work.

Tests were carried out in three stages

The study was supervised by Ariene Gimenes Fernandes Van Dender, researcher at the Institute of Food Technology (Ital) and guest professor at Unicamp. According to Mirela, the work, which used four commercial dietary fibers, completed three stages. In the first, she developed three formulations for light cream cheese, two with the following concentrations of inulin, a fiber of vegetable origin: 3,3% and 6,7%. “With these formulations, these products fall into, respectively, what we classify as a source of fiber and rich in fiber and prebiotic”, explains the author of the thesis. Prebiotic foods, it should be noted, are those that stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria that live in the intestine.

The third formulation combined two dietary fibers, inulin and oligofructose. With this, the food engineer obtained a light cream cheese rich in fiber, prebiotic and capable of promoting increased calcium absorption. The fiber concentration, in this case, was 6,7%. In the second phase of the research, Mirela developed a process for manufacturing cream cheese without added fat. She also opted for three formulations, using the same concentrations of fiber used for light cream cheese. “In other words, the products prepared in the second stage had the same characteristics as the previous ones, with the advantage of not having added fat”, explains Mirela.

In the third and final stage of the work, the researcher generated technology for manufacturing light cream cheese with the following concentrations of dietary fiber: 3,3% for polydextrose and 3,3% for fructo-oligosaccharide. In general, says Mirela, the product samples showed stability in terms of physical-chemical and color parameters, considering a storage period of 90 days. “The curds also presented satisfactory microbiological quality, based on current legislation”, she adds. According to her, for all fibers used at a concentration of 3,3%, both light products and those without added fat obtained desirable sensory characteristics.

In the acceptability test, cottage cheese without added fat and with 3,3% fiber, for example, achieved high percentages of acceptance in all aspects evaluated, such as appearance, aroma, texture, flavor and purchase intention. The addition of dietary fiber, warns Mirela, had an influence on the shelf life of cottage cheese, which varied between 45 and 90 days. Still in relation to acceptability tests, some products received negative quotes in relation to certain characteristics. “The sample of light cream cheese with 6,7% inulin was considered gritty by 26% of consumers consulted, in addition to having high rejection rates in terms of flavor and texture, as well as purchase intention”.

The sample without added fat and with the same concentration of the same fiber was also considered sandy by 44% of the consumers consulted. “The results indicate the need to further research into products with a high concentration of inulin, in order to make it possible to obtain a creamy cheese with desirable texture characteristics”, analyzes Mirela. The cream cheeses with the addition of 6,7% inulin and oligofructose had a pleasant texture, despite the high concentration of dietary fiber. This occurs, according to the researcher, because the combination of these fibers interferes less with the texture characteristics of the product, as it does not have the function of replacing fat. On the other hand, these fibers have a slightly sweet taste, as they contain 8% glucose, fructose and sucrose in their composition.

The fibers  – Dietary fibers have aroused growing interest on the part of science and, consequently, the food industry. They are substances derived from vegetables and resist the action of digestive enzymes. They are classified as soluble and insoluble. Each provides a type of benefit to the human body. Soluble fibers, for example, increase the viscosity of intestinal contents and reduce plasma cholesterol. They also contribute to regularizing bowel function. Insoluble fibers increase the volume of the fecal cake and reduce transit time in the large intestine, thus facilitating the elimination of feces. According to available scientific studies, the consumption of dietary fiber by the Brazilian population is still low, which gives greater relevance to products enriched with this type of substance.