Innovative Ingredients Fortified Nutrients Enriched Biscuits and Cookies: Quality and Sensory Analyses

Global suffering from COVID-19 has necessitated augmenting the immunity systems of humans through consumption of macro-micro-nutrients and antioxidant-enriched fortified foods. In this article, fortifications of popular bakery products, viz. biscuits, cookies, have been reviewed, encompassing the novel fortifying ingredients and innovative methods employed with an emphasis on the overall enrichment in the final product quality. A few notable features concerning novel fortified biscuit and fortified cookie have been decisively summarized. Wheat flour blended with 40% sesame-cake flour resulted in a fortified biscuit possessing higher protein (16.6%), crude fat (16.95%), and dietary fiber (8.2%) with acceptable sensory characteristics. About 9% toting up of chicken-eggshell dried-powder could result in high Ca content in biscuits with customary changes in texture and sensory properties. A remarkable 5% addition of bee pollen to wheat flour appreciably improved the nutrient compositions (carbohydrate 65.18%, protein 7.32%, and total dietary-fiber 1.47%) along with high polyphenol and antioxidant potentials. Notably, mixing fish fillet protein concentrate with wheat flour could yield enhanced nutritional content (protein 14.63-19.52%, fat 16.2-16.5%), as well as augmented amino acids. Remarkably, wheat flour fortified with fermented jack bean flour resulted in an overall fortified biscuit with substantial carbohydrate, crude protein, fat, fiber, ash, and appreciable macro-micro mineral contents and sensory characteristics. Innovative fortified cookies were made by blending wheat flour or Brewer's spent grain flour with one or more ingredients, e.g. full fat soya, mushroom, cardamom powder, moringa leaves, coconut, sweet potato flour rendering amplified values of nutrients, superior physical properties, increased mineral and flavonoid contents and organoleptic qualities.Copyright © 2023 Bentham Science Publishers.

Large-scale staple food fortification as a complementary strategy to address vitamin and mineral vulnerabilities in India: A critical review.

The slow improvement in micronutrient malnutrition globally and in India warrants a need for scaling-up scientifically proven, cost-effective public health interventions. The present review discusses the potential of staple food fortification as a complementary strategy to tackle micronutrient deficiencies, while addressing the current concerns raised regarding its implementation. The review indicates the below par status of current strategies like dietary diversity and supplementation to address multiple micronutrients deficiencies in India and the need for complementary strategies to tackle this problem. Based on systematic reviews and meta-analysis, global and national evidence has identified staple food fortification as a proven and recognized cost-effective solution to address micronutrient deficiencies. The Government of India has shown a strong leadership to promote this proven intervention. Further, the paper addresses the concern that large-scale staple food fortification (LSFF) may lead to excessive nutrient intakes when delivered together with other interventions, e.g., supplementation, dietary diversity, among the same populations. A key message that emerges from this review is that LSFF is safe with current dietary intake and deficiencies and low coverage of other interventions. Given the current situation of food and nutrition insecurity which the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated, and the critical role that nutrition plays in building immunity, it is even more important that health and nutrition of the population, especially vulnerable age groups, is not only safeguarded but also strengthened. LSFF should be implemented without any further delay to reach the most vulnerable segments of the population to reduce the dietary nutrient gap and prevent micronutrient deficiencies. Effective monitoring and regular dietary surveys will help ensure these interventions are being deployed correctly.

The Perception of Minerals and Their Prevalence in Fortified Foods and Supplements in Japan.

People's intake of some minerals does not meet the nutrient reference values even in high-income countries. Recently, the deficiency of zinc and/or selenium has been considered to cause greater risk of COVID-19 infection and severity. To investigate consumer awareness, we conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire online survey among Japanese people (7500 males and 7500 females) concerning their perceptions of each mineral and the prevalence of mineral-fortified foods and/or mineral supplements. People's perception of each mineral varied: the highest was for calcium (91.8%) and the lowest was for selenium (44.7%). In addition, only a portion of participants believed that they consumed a sufficient amount of each mineral; the highest was sodium (23.7%), and the lowest was manganese (5.2%). In addition, 18.2% of them felt that they could not consume enough sodium, even though most of the Japanese's intake is excessive. Among mineral-fortified-food and/or mineral-supplement users, the purposes for these products were to maintain health (80.6%), supplement nutrients (48.0%), and prevent infectious diseases (23.2%). Only 18.4% of participants knew what amount they took. In conclusion, education is needed to prevent not only the insufficiency/deficiency of each mineral but also an excess intake of sodium.