Copy of Self structuring foods with slow burn for control of satiety

有必要控制消费者的能量摄入。一个问题是，食物变得更软，更容易消化，不那么饱腹。这会导致个人更快地感到饥饿，并在两餐之间经常想吃东西。我们必须认识到，消费者想要的是方便、美味、容易准备的食物。因此，技术上的需要是找到方法来构造食物，使其在储存过程中稳定，分发方便，味道好，但随后被缓慢消化，导致卡路里在数小时内释放出来。实现这一目标的一个潜在方法是生产出能够对环境做出反应的食物。因此，一种由对pH值敏感的水胶体构成的食物，其设计目的是构建胃中的内容物（例如，形成一种占据整个胃的凝胶），可能会减缓胃的排空过程。最初的研究表明，这是可能的，而且饥饿感的发生可以推迟几个小时。我们打算扩展这些初步发现，生产和研究一系列海藻酸盐，以控制条件下的凝胶速率和凝胶性质；酸度、盐分、温度与胃相对应。在了解了海藻酸盐的精细结构控制之后，我们将研究酸敏感的替代材料（如果胶、结冷胶等），并研究这些材料与非酸敏感水胶体的混合物，以进行特定的动力学和流变控制。要求具有温度和时间稳定的结构，以便它们可以运输并用于烹饪产品，因此我们将研究剪切凝胶的使用。一个重大的挑战将是包含能够调节能量传递和餐后缓慢释放卡路里（缓慢燃烧）的材料，并且仍然是消费者的感官可接受的。为了做到这一点，我们将包括不同状态的淀粉；它们以不同的速度被消化，因此在不同的时间尺度上（从几分钟到几小时）向身体输送能量。高度结晶的淀粉会导致口腔中的沙质或砂砾质地，特别是在生产过程中不控制退化过程。这在过去限制了使用逆行/抗性淀粉控制软性食品中能量释放的适用性。我们将研究将淀粉纳入其他生物聚合物和剪切生物聚合物系统的方法，包括“水胶体壳”。这种外壳的设计目的是保护淀粉不受口中淀粉酶的影响，并减缓胃中的酸作用。这很可能需要用不同的水胶体组成两层甚至三层的壳。颗粒的整体尺寸将小于十微米，以避免口腔检测。此外，植物中的淀粉比原料淀粉消化得更慢，我们将研究在结构和口腔上可接受的细胞材料的分离和包涵。在研究了获得自组装结构的途径以及包括和调节分解以控制卡路里释放的方法之后，我们将利用我们的工程技能找到大规模生产这些材料的方法。当我们这样做时，我们将意识到在储存和运输中使用的潜在问题，即在消费者使用产品之前，在高温下结构会破裂或在储存时发生自结构。我们将开发环状水胶体网络，液体凝胶（即钙交联海藻酸盐），它在温度和时间上稳定，但在酸性pH下溶解，并在胃中重组为酸性凝胶。流体凝胶是通过将水胶体或混合水胶体在良好控制的流场和温度分布（如温度陡坡湍流）下凝胶化来构建的。

There is a need to control energy intake of consumers. A problem is that foods have become softer and more easily digestible and are less satiating. This leads to the individual feeling hungry more quickly and wanting to eat again often between meals. It has to be recognised that the consumer however, wants to have foods that are convenient, good tasting and easily prepared. The technical need is therefore to find ways to structure the food so that it is stable during storage and distribution is convenient and tastes good but then is slowly digested resulting in calories being released over hours. One potential way of achieving this is to produce foods that respond to the environment they find themselves in. So a food that is structured with a hydrocolloid that is sensitive to pH and is designed to structure the contents of the stomach (e.g. forms a gel that occupies the whole stomach) is potentially capable of slowing the stomach emptying process. Initial work has shown that this is possible and that the onset of hunger can be delayed by several hours. We intend to extend these initial findings and produce and investigate a range of alginates to control the gelation rate and gel properties under conditions; acidity, salt, temperature corresponding to the stomach. Having developed an understanding of the fine structure control of alginate we will study alternative materials that are acid sensitive (eg pectin, gellan etc) as well as investigating mixtures of these materials with each other and non acid sensitive hydrocolloids for specific kinetic and rheological control. There is a requirement to have temperature and time stable structures so that they can be transported and used in cooked products so we will investigate the use of sheared gels. A significant challenge will be to have materials included that will modulate the energy delivery and slowly release calories after the meal (slow burn) and still be organoleptically acceptable to the consumer. In order to do this we will include starch in different states; which are known to be digested at different rates and so delivers energy to the body over different timescales from minutes to hours. Starch which is highly crystalline can result in sandy or gritty textures in the mouth, particularly as the retrogradation process is not controlled in the manufacturing process. This has in the past limit the applicability of controlling energy release in soft foods using retrograded/resistant starch. We will investigate ways of including starch in other biopolymer and sheared biopolymer systems including 'hydrocolloid shells'. The shell will be designed to protect the starch against the amylase in the mouth and slow down the acid action in the stomach. This may well require a double or even triple shell to be produced with different hydrocolloids making up the shells. The overall dimensions of the particles will be less than ten microns to avoid oral detection. In addition, starch in plants is more slowly digested than raw starch and we will investigate the separation and inclusion of cellular materials that are texturally and orally acceptable. Having investigated routes to obtain self assembling structures and the way to include and modulate breakdown to control calorie release, we will then use our engineering skills to find ways to produce these materials at scale. As we do so we will be aware of potential problems of use in storage and transportation i.e. breakdown of the structures at elevated temperatures or self structuring occurring on storage before the product is used by the consumer. We will develop cyclised hydrocolloid networks, fluid gels (ie calcium cross linked alginate) which are temperature and time stable but dissolve at acid pH's and restructure into acid gels in the stomach. Fluid gels will be constructed by gelling the hydrocolloids or mixed hydrocolloids under well controlled flow fields and temperature profiles eg temperature ramped turbulent flow.