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

需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，不太饱。这会导致个体更快地感到饥饿，并经常在两餐之间再次进食。然而，必须认识到，消费者希望获得方便、美味和易于制备的食品。因此，技术上的需要是找到使食物结构化的方法，使其在储存和分配期间稳定，方便且味道好，但随后缓慢消化，导致卡路里在数小时内释放。实现这一目标的一个潜在方法是生产出能适应环境的食物。因此，用对pH值敏感的水胶体结构化的食物，并被设计为结构化胃的内容物（例如，形成占据整个胃的凝胶），可能能够减缓胃排空过程。初步工作表明，这是可能的，饥饿的发生可以推迟几个小时。我们打算扩展这些初步发现，并生产和研究一系列藻酸盐，以控制条件下的凝胶化速率和凝胶特性;酸度，盐，温度对应于胃。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（例如果胶、结冷胶等），以及研究这些材料彼此之间的混合物和非酸敏感的水胶体，以进行特定的动力学和流变学控制。有一个要求，有温度和时间稳定的结构，使他们可以运输和使用在煮熟的产品，所以我们将研究使用剪切凝胶。一个重大的挑战将是包括将调节能量输送并在餐后缓慢释放卡路里（缓慢燃烧）并且仍然是消费者感官上可接受的材料。为了做到这一点，我们将包括不同状态的淀粉;已知它们以不同的速度消化，因此在从几分钟到几小时的不同时间尺度上向身体提供能量。高度结晶的淀粉可导致口腔中的桑迪或砂砾质质地，特别是当在制造过程中不控制凝沉过程时。这在过去限制了使用回生/抗性淀粉控制软食品中能量释放的适用性。我们将研究包括淀粉在其他生物聚合物和剪切生物聚合物系统，包括“水胶体壳”的方式。壳将被设计成保护淀粉免受口中的淀粉酶的侵害，并减缓胃中的酸作用。这很可能需要用构成壳的不同水胶体来产生双层或甚至三层壳。颗粒的总体尺寸将小于10微米，以避免口腔检测。此外，植物中的淀粉比生淀粉消化得更慢，我们将研究质地和口腔可接受的细胞材料的分离和包含。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来寻找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，即在高温下结构的分解或在消费者使用产品之前储存时发生的自结构化。我们将开发环化水胶体网络，流体凝胶（即钙交联藻酸盐），其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。流体凝胶将通过在良好控制的流场和温度分布（例如温度梯度湍流）下使水胶体或混合水胶体胶凝来构建。

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.