TOWARDS "HEALTHIER" CHOCOLATES-NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Chocolate is known to be a rich source of antioxidants but its consumption is constrained by the high levels of saturated fat and sugar present in these products, both dangerous food ingredients as far as human health is concerned. While consumption of high levels of fat, especially the saturated and trans fats, can cause atherosclerosis and consequent heart problem, high sugar intake is equally risky precipitating many ailments including diabetes. Chocolate making technology can be considered as one of the most foolish progresses made by mankind because a patently good food raw material is converted into a nutritionally absurd product for satisfying the palate of man. The cured raw cocoa bean is a source of many chemicals, many of them considered nutritionally beneficial to health. While it is a rich source of fat the ubiquitous cocoa press can remove most of them to give cocoa powder which is considered one of the richest sources of health-friendly bio-flavonols.

Cocoa has twice as much antioxidants as in red wine and three times the quantity present in green tea. The ORAC value of cocoa is about 25000 as compared to 18500 for Acai berry and 1540 for Strawberry. Cocoa is reported to have properties related to anti-aging and anti-inflammation. It is also a rich source of minerals that include Magnesium, Sulfur, Calcium, Potassium, Manganese besides some B-vitamins. The Bioflavonol  Epicatechin is reported to be effective in preventing fat accumulation in arteries and veins. Almost 10% by weight in cocoa is Bioflavonols and about 300 chemical compounds have been identified so far in this wonder food, the function of many of them  not yet unraveled so far. Dark chocolates with high cocoa solid content can improve insulin sensitivity significantly.

The chocolate making process uses the recovered fat from the cocoa pot to enrich the chocolate mass (finely ground cocoa mash) with more fat and uses copious amounts of white sugar to get the final product which is much sought after by consumers of all ages. The typical melting characteristics of cocoa butter confer on chocolate the unique "melt in the mouth" feeling associated with these products but the rich calorie and fat contents also make chocolate a "cat among the pigeon", being shunned increasingly by weight watchers and diet conscious people. It is against this background that chocolates are losing their luster as a culinary wonder in the present century with more and more people entering the "obesity" club world over. During the last one decade continuous efforts have been directed to modify chocolate products in such a way that they can be considered safe for consumption chucking the unhealthy tag commonly associated with it. Dark chocolates are now being offered by the industry containing almost 85% cocoa solids and less and less of sugar. Fat content is still a deterrent against its universal adoption by one and all.

A solution to high saturated fat content in chocolate has recently been found where normal fats are substituted with special fats with different metabolic characteristics. Diacylglycerols which are modified versions of normal fats with one fatty acid group less, behave differently when consumed compared to cocoa butter fat. Though both fats are commonly found in food, diacylglycerol is better known for its emulsifying properties rather than as a food fat. According to nutritionists since the normal fat molecules are too large to get across the intestinal wall in one piece, the body breaks them down into smaller components, which are reassembled once they cross the cell membranes of the intestine. Due to their different molecular structure diacylglycerols are not immediately reassembled after they cross the intestinal wall, unlike triglycerides and therefore are not stored in fat cells. They are broken down in the liver and used as energy. As it does not require for the body to carry them through the blood, unlike large triacylglycerol molecules, diacylglycerols are not expected to clog the arteries and veins in the same way as the former.  

While diacylglycerols have been used to produce vegetable cooking oils derived from canola and soybean oils for the health-food market, scientists and manufacturers have not had much success using them as confectionery fats. Most difficult part of substituting cocoa butter with any other fat is to simulate the unique melting properties of the former which influences the eating quality of a good chocolate product. Technologically this is a challenging area for fat technologists and almost all cocoa butter substitutes presently available are poor imitators of the real natural product. If the scientists who claim that diacylglycerols can be an effective substitute, are to be believed such products will be much more healthier while the sensory characteristics are not seriously affected. What is intriguing is that diacylglyceols are better known for their emulsifying properties especially in fat-water emulsions and whether it will have any constraint on the process itself. One is reminded of Olestra, a fat substitute made from sucrose and fatty acids with zero calorie density, which freaked out because of the unacceptable side effects caused in the intestine due to its ingestion. It is to be seen whether diacylglycerols will have similar effect in the GI tract though the developers preclude this possibility.

If fat saturated content is replaced with diacylglycerols will there be a calories saving for the consumer? Unfortunately the answer is in the negative because both triglycerides and digylcerides have almost same calorie count. Similarly as chocolate is a sugar rich product new formulations containing diglycerides will have no impact as far as weight reduction is concerned. Unless new chocolate formulations with low fat and low sugar contents are developed it is unlikely that these products will ever become a universal choice for all consumers across the spectrum.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE ANTIOXIDANT DATA BASE-A NEW CHILEAN INITIATIVE

Antioxidants are to day more or less recognized as the saviors of mankind from many non-infectious diseases like cancer. Such a situation has come about after it was found by many scientific studies about the ability of antioxidants to scavenge free radicals from the body. Oxy radicals generated in the human body due to various metabolic reactions, if not removed promptly, are believed to cause damage to DNA which can cause various types of cancers affecting different organs and other vital functions. It is believed that fruits provide high levels of antioxidants, mainly in the form of poly phenols and a generous consumption of these protective foods can keep many diseases away. The latest dietary recommendations suggest that almost half the plate of foods consumed every day should be contributed by fruits and vegetables.

It is believed that human body makes its own anti oxidants to neutralize the day to day generation of oxy radicals there by protecting it from many serious diseases but modern day life contributes a much larger levels of oxy radicals which need more anti oxidants to make them innocuous. Optimum health to day means ensuring taking adequate amounts of anti oxidants through daily diet. This naturally raises the question regarding the relative efficiency of various food sources in providing high levels of antioxidants to the body. Poly phenols which are natural constituents of many foods consumed daily are considered to be of efficient antioxidant credentials though there is always the question of their absorption across the GI tract under normal conditions. For these antioxidants to be effective they are required to be delivered to the cells in their active form and it is here where some confusion still exists. If a product claims it is rich in antioxidants, it may not be telling a lie but if the claim refers to health advantages by consuming them, same may not be tenable because of uncertainties regarding the actual absorption and delivery to the cells for making them work.

ORAC Value proposed by the National Institute on Aging under National Institution of Health, Bethesda, USA is widely used to assess the efficacy of foods as a source of antioxidants. ORAC value simply predicts the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity of a substance through laboratory analyzes and is widely used in estimating the antioxidant value of different foods. It was the USDA which first brought out a compendium of foods with different ORAC values to help the consumers to select antioxidant rich foods in their daily diet. Recently the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology in Chile has brought out the ORAC values of 140 different fruits grown all over the world, besides providing useful information about other nutrients present in them. Unfortunately the world has not reached a stage where ORAC values can be used as a reliable indicator for making legally health claims by different food resources. But it till serves the purpose of helping the consumers to select the ones with highest ORAC value for his continued well being. 

Many people may be unaware that Sorghum, considered a poor man's staple in many countries is a rich source of antioxidants boasting of a high ORAC value of 45,400! Compare this with the ORAC value of 290,285 for a spice like Cloves or 131, 420 for Cinnamon or 127,068 for Turmeric. The much ridiculed Curry Powder of India can boast of an ORAC value of 48, 504. Some times it is intriguing to see many published scientific papers touting about high ORAC values for fruits like Blackberries, Blueberries and other berries like Calafate, Macqui, Murtilla etc because these are not produced in substantial quantities to be available year around, if the demand rises rapidly. Besides they are not consumed in big quantities to deliver high levels of antioxidants. On the other hand take the case of foods like Sorghum which is taken to meet bulk of the energy needs in some parts of the world and the impact can be quite high. Of course a good balanced diet containing different sources of antioxidants like Berries and other colored fruits and vegetables, grains like Sorghum, Spices like Turmeric, Cumin, Black Pepper etc will always be a sure bet against accumulation of Oxy radicals in the body as they can effectively scavenge them regularly. 

The Compilations by the USDA and the Chile Institute are considered a great service to humanity because of the educational value they have on the food consumption behavior of the population at large. With such readily available data, industry must be encouraged to use ORAC value of every food marketed by it and such a step can hope to tide over the increasing wave of Cancer and other diseases in the coming years.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

HERE COMES THE TENDER RICE-A VERITABLE SOURCE OF NUTRACEUTICALS

Rice is the most important staple in many Asian countries, though lately its consumption is growing in other parts of the world also. Though rice cultivation is water intensive and it may make some sense to wean away consumers from eating rice, such a strategy is unlikely to succeed because of the difficulty involved in changing traditional food consumption habits. Not that it is impossible as demonstrated in Korea, a predominantly rice consuming countries, where wheat was made popular by the United States and in southern India where population are slowly shifting to wheat from the staple food, rice. Probably such shifts in dietary pattern can take place over a long period of promotion and through adequate incentives.

Asian giants China and India are the two major rice producers accounting for almost about 340 million tons an year. Rice is a nutritional grain though its protein content is not as high as that in wheat. But the way the paddy is processed makes the difference in terms of nutrient content. There are different colored rice varieties with different colors like purple, red and black and added to these recent development of golden rice rich in carotenoids has provided another variant. Black rice is being touted as being rich in antioxidants, comparable to that in blue berries and black berries.

Processing of paddy involves dehusking and debranning to get the white cotyledon that is commonly known as rice and it is this processing step that makes it less nutritious by removing significant part of the nutrients. It is a paradox that almost all nutrients in rice are concentrated in the husk and bran portions of the grain and ironically they are considered inedible, removed during paddy processing. Bran, constituting about 10% of the grain, is also a good source of highly nutritious fat which is now being commercially exploited. Besides bran is also a rich source of sterols, gamma-oryzanols and many phenolic compounds. Rice milling industry in some countries fortify the product with vitamin B1, B2 and iron to restore that lost during polishing operation. Magnesium is one of the minerals lost irretrievably during polishing but not restored by the processor. Same is true with fiber also. Parboiling process that enables some of the soluble nutrients present in the bran to be infused into the cotyledon, makes it more nutritious. Unfortunately consumption of parboiled rice is limited to Kerala and part of Karnataka states in India.

Normal white Rice can hardly be considered as a source of antioxidants but if recent research findings are confirmed, it can be cultivated for obtaining a nutraceutical product over riding its food value. It has been found that the total phenolics and total flavonoids in immature rice grains could be significantly higher than those in mature seeds. More interestingly the bio-availability of these antioxidants is very high as most of them are in free and soluble form like Ferulic acid, ready to be absorbed by the body. The tocols which are hydrophobic antioxidants are plentiful in developing rice grain and are mainly composed of alpha-tocopherol, gamma-tocotrienol and alpha-tocotrienol. In addition, content of soluble dietary fiber in immature rice grains is found to be high that has benefits for gastrointestinal health. Based on the concentrations of bioactive compounds at different stages of rice grain development, immature grains between the 15th and 18th day after anthesis (full flowering) are suitable for nutraceutical applications.

The implications of the above findings are far reaching because here is an instance of a staple food being considered as a potential candidate for the nutraceutical industry. If rice is going to be harvested so early for use as a nutraceutical product, yield will be considerably less and consequently the cost can be very high. Rice farmers can have the choice of earmarking a part of their field for producing immature grains which can fetch them much higher returns. Before building castle in the air, concerted efforts are necessary to dwell deeper into these findings, confirm them, standardize the optimum conditions for getting maximum antioxidant content in the grain and develop delivery system for the market.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com/

THE BATTLE FOR YOUR 'HEART' - STATINS VS THE FOOD

Cholesterol management is a continuing topic of interest amongst nutritionists, medical practitioners, policy makers and consumers, ever since this biochemical has been implicated in arterial diseases. The belief that cholesterol and its metabolic companions lipoproteins are involved in forming dangerous plaques on the walls of arteries has spawned an entirely new industry that manufactures and markets drugs called statins to reduce cholesterol levels in the blood. The statin manufacturers, numbering about a dozen are estimated to be raking in a mammoth turnover of about $ 26 billion in USA alone and this 'magic' drug is routinely being prescribed to people with cholesterol levels, even marginally higher than recommended optimum concentration in the blood.

The family of cholesterol containing lipoproteins like VLDL, LDL and HDL is present in human body at varying levels depending on the genetic make up, food intake, living style and some other factors. Cholesterol by itself is a soft waxy lipid that is not soluble in water or blood and it is in the form of lipoproteins that cholesterol performs its assigned metabolic functions. Cholesterol is critical for cell wall synthesis besides being a precursor to all of the steroid hormones like estrogen, testosterone, cortisone and others. Many believe that HDL cholesterol is good while LDL and VLDL cholesterol types are responsible for heart diseases. While body synthesizes cholesterol routinely through the mediation of HMG CoA Reductase enzyme, many of the foods we consume also contribute to cholesterol in the body. Optimum concentration of LDLs in blood is less than 100 mg/dL while high risk levels begin at 160 mg/dL. HDL concentration is generally around 40-60 mg/dL and a ratio of 5:1 for total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol is considered beneficial. Arcus juvenilis, a pale ring around the iris in the eyes and yellowish fatty deposits under the skin around the eyes called xanthelasmata usually are indicators of high cholesterol levels in the body.

There does not seem to be any unanimity regarding the role of cholesterol in causing heart attacks. Many believe that high levels of LDL and VLDL cholesterol are responsible for forming arterial plaques which block blood circulation through the heart causing myocardial infraction. A few reputed experts, however, contest this thesis and assert that cholesterol numbers are not important but small dense LDL particles formed in the blood probably due to development of insulin and leptin resistance, cause plaque formation. According to them these small LDL particles can squeeze between cells lining the inside of the arteries (gap junction) of the endothelium where they get stuck and are potentially oxidized causing inflammation of the lining and plaque formation. In support, hundreds of studies have been cited where majority of patients hospitalized for heart attack have cholesterol numbers, well within the recommended levels and reduction in cholesterol is not well correlated to reduction in mortality rate. While the ability of statin drugs to lower the circulating cholesterol is undisputed, whether such intervention helps to reduce the chances of heart attack is a debatable point and jury is till out on this issue. Many believe that high fibrinogen levels play more important role by its tendency to form blood clots and consequent effect on the heart.

Adding another dimension to this burning issue is the reported side effects of statins implicating it in muscle pain, nerve damage and memory impairment. Further the enzyme that is inhibited by statins to achieve low cholesterol numbers is also vital for synthesizing the co-enzyme Q10 involved in metabolic reactions converting food into usable energy for transport to the cells in the body. It is also well argued that current recommended levels of cholesterol are not easily achievable with diets and exercise regimes, except through intervention drug therapy using statins. No wonder that more than 12 million Americans are hooked on to statins because of the scare posed by such perceived dangers of cholesterol.

Consumption of whole cereals and pulses, soybean, garlic, onion, hot pepper, cloves, green tea, fruits like strawberry, grapefruit, orange and apple, almost all vegetables, fish, red wine, olive oil, many spices, nuts like almond and walnuts and most of the every day natural foods provide plenty of antioxidants which can ensure that cholesterol will never pose a problem vis-à-vis the heart. Naturally occurring phytochemicals present in plant foods work in different ways to protect the heart by preventing formation of blood clots and lowering of cholesterol. Probably food industry can seize the opportunity to win the 'hearts' of the consumers through the food route and break the stranglehold the statin industry has on them at present!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/