Food Structure Engineering and Design for Improved Nutrition, Health and Well-being

Food Structure Engineering and Design for Improved Nutrition, Health and Wellbeing presents new insights on the development of new healthy foods and the understanding of food structure effect on nutrition, health and wellbeing. Sections cover a) New ingredients, typicity and ethnicity of foods in different cultures and geographic regions; b) New and innovative strategies for food structure development; c) Strategies to address the challenges for healthier food products, such the reduction of sugar, salt and fats; d) Assessment of health effect of foods by in vitro and in vivo tests, and more.

Edited by experts in the field, and contributed by scientists of different areas such as nutritionists and food engineers, this title offers a broad overview of the field to the readers, boosting their capability to integrate different aspects of product development.

• Brings examples and strategies on how to improve the nutritional value of foods through food engineering and design
• Includes a broad vision of food trends and their impact in new product development
• Features the newest methodologies and techniques for the analysis of developed food products

• Language: English
• Publisher: Academic Press
• Release date: Oct 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9780323898034

Book preview

Part I

Introduction

Chapter 1: Nutrition, health and well-being in the world: The role of food structure design

Miguel Ângelo Parente Ribeiro Cerqueiraa; David J. McClementsb; Lorenzo Miguel Pastrana Castroa    a International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Braga, Portugal

b Department of Food Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, United States

Abstract

There is a pressing need to create a more sustainable, healthy, and resilient food system to address emerging global challenges, such as feeding a growing population, reducing the carbon footprint of food production, decreasing pollution, and improving consumer health. Scientists and technologists from many disciplines are developing innovative approaches to tackle these challenges. This chapter gives an overview of the main food-related challenges facing society and some of the new approaches being developed to address them. Food chemistry, biochemistry, engineering, physiology, nutrition, nanotechnology, colloid science, and soft matter physics are all being employed to identify solutions to these challenges. Several strategies to create more sustainable and nutritious diets are discussed to highlight the importance of food structure design in improving the modern food system.

Keywords

Food processing; Sustainability; Functional foods; Healthy diets; Nutrition; Consumer behavior

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the project cLabel + (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-046080) co-financed by Compete 2020, Lisbon 2020, Portugal 2020 and the European Union, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

1.1: Food challenges and United Nations sustainable development goals

A major challenge of the modern food and agricultural system is to feed a growing global population a healthy diet without damaging the environment. At present, however, this system is known to be having adverse effects on pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use, and biodiversity loss, as well as on human health and well-being (Willett et al., 2019). An appreciable proportion of the global population suffers from undernutrition because they do not have sufficient food or are consuming low-quality diets, while another appreciable proportion suffers from overnutrition because they eat too much or the wrong kinds of foods. Undernutrition leads to hunger and diseases linked to micronutrient deficiencies, while overnutrition leads to obesity, diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Consequently, there is a need to improve the global diet, which is only possible through a global change along the food chain that involves all relevant stakeholders (World Health Organization, 2021). These problems are a concern to both developed and developing countries (OECD, 2019). It has been estimated that the health care costs associated with diseases of overnutrition are similar to those of smoking or armed conflict and are predicted to double by 2030 (Giner & Brooks, 2019).

In 2015, the United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for the Global Challenges (Fig. 1.1). The food industry greatly influences many of these goals but especially Goals: 2, 3, 12 and 13. SDG 2 aims to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. SDG 6 aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. This water is required for drinking and hygiene, but also to ensure food and agricultural productivity. SDG 12 aims to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. SDG 13 aims to ensure that the global climate is maintained in a state that will be suitable for the health and well-being of future generations.

Fig. 1.1

Fig. 1.1 Sustainable development goals of United Nations. The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States, https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/.

According to Lillford and Hermansson, modern food science and technology should focus on creating a more diverse and sustainable food production and distribution system (Lillford & Hermansson, 2021). They highlighted seven missions that could help to redefine a new food system:

Mission 1: Introduce more diverse and sustainable primary produce. This mission is aimed to obtain optimal functional properties during the production of new raw materials, to understand and control the behavior of raw materials and ingredients during production, and to improve the knowledge for better control of the final product quality, including structure, material properties, sensory perception, and nutritional quality. Food structure design is of great importance to achieve this mission. In particular, understanding the properties and behavior of food ingredients is essential for creating a healthier and more sustainable food system.

Mission 2: Develop new processes and systems to ensure sustainable manufacture. This mission is aimed at developing precision engineering approaches to improve the efficiency of food manufacturing processes: reducing water use; recycling water; reducing waste; developing low-temperature processes, optimizing drying/rehydration processes; reducing fossil fuel and energy use; developing local manufacturing facilities; and promoting standardized methods for sustainability analysis and reporting. Food structure design can also have an impact on this mission because it can be used to optimize the formulation of more sustainable and healthy foods and ingredients, as well as novel processing technologies. An example of this approach is given in Chapter 3, where electrotechnologies are described that can be used to create new foods with unique characteristics. These technologies can be used to replace existing thermal processing methods, which may reduce energy use.

Mission 3: Eliminate food and material waste in production, distribution, and consumption. This mission is focused on reducing and recycling food wastes and byproducts from primary production to consumption. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) approximately one-third of all food produced in the world in 2009, measured by weight, was lost or wasted (FAO, 2011). The aim of this mission is to improve the stability of primary produce to overcome problems during transportation and preservation. This can be achieved in various ways: developing low energy drying and freezing systems; developing sensors for monitoring foods from production to consumption; restructuring the ingredient and food production industries to add value to all sides. One of the examples is the use of food by-products such as whey protein for the development of food structures by additive manufacturing (i.e., 3D printing), which can result in new and healthy food products (Sager et al., 2021). This approach is discussed in Chapter 2. Also, in this mission, is mentioned the need of finding ways to reduce levels of petrochemical materials in packaging materials (e.g., by increasing recyclability and using biobased materials). This mission can be very different depending on the region of the world, while for low-income countries, the waste is higher in primary production due to inadequate post-harvest and distribution strategies in high-income countries, the losses are mostly related to the final product distribution and home consumption (World Resources Institute, 2019).

Mission 4: Establish complete product safety and traceability. This mission is focused on ensuring food safety. This objective can be addressed by developing rapid methods for identification and quantification of toxins, allergens, pathogenic organisms, and spoilage organisms across the food chain; understanding the epidemiology of microorganisms throughout the food environment; preventing the transfer of antimicrobial-resistant organisms to the food chain; providing traceability of products by introducing robust documentation of food products with different levels of information (e.g., primary source, processing methods, product composition and safety); and, using different methodologies and strategies to reduce microbiological contamination. Food structure design can have an important role in this mission by developing new antimicrobial delivery systems, creating innovative antimicrobial packaging materials, or controlling water activity in foods.

Mission 5: Provide affordable and balanced nutrition to the malnourished. The reformulation of food composition and processing can be used to create foods that are more nutritionally balanced and have a high bioavailability. In particular, the nutrition profile of foods can be targeted to the needs of specific populations, while maintaining food affordability, access, and quality. This mission is related to SDG2 and involves all regions from low-income countries where foods are less available to high-income countries where malnutrition can happen in some populations, such as the poor, elderly, or infants. Food structure design can be used to create tasty foods with desirable nutritional profiles and high nutrient bioavailability.

Fig. 1.2 shows the number of undernourished people around the world in 2019 and projections for 2030. The distribution of hunger is predicted to change over the next years, making Africa the region with the highest number of undernourished by 2030.

Fig. 1.2 Number of undernourished people in millions. Number of undernourished people in millions. * Projected values. ** Projections to 2030 do not consider the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. n.r. = not reported, as the prevalence is less than 2.5%. From FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, & WHO. (2020). The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020. Transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets. doi:https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9692en. Reproduced with permission.

Mission 6: Improve health through diet. This mission impacts health and well-being with the aim of preventing non-communicable diseases. This will require reformulating foods so they have an appropriate nutritional profile, as well as controlling their behavior inside the gastrointestinal tract. Research has shown that food structural design can be used to control the digestibility and absorption of nutrients and nutraceuticals in foods, as well as to control their impact on the gut microbiome. However, further work is required to understand how specific bioactive components impact human health and well-being.

In particular, future research should focus on measuring the release of nutrients from whole foodstuffs throughout digestion. For example, the use of dietary biomarkers to assess food intake among consumers and make use of metabolomics to detect responses to different foods and diets and, at the same time to define the nutrient needs of individuals within established nutritional groups for precise advice on diets. It will be essential to continue validating the impact of nutraceuticals on health (e.g., by using cohort studies and market data). Another important aspect will be to identify how macro and micronutrients can be combined and used on long term health via diet.

This mission will require the work of food science and technology, where food structure design can help increase bioavailability and the way that foods are digested, but also other areas of nutrition, medicine, neuroscience, and physiology need to be involved. Recently, FAO et al. (2020) presented how healthy diets [flexitarian (FLX), pescatarian (PSC), vegetarian (VEG) and vegan (VGN)] could impact the reduction of mortality in 2030 in relation to four non-communicable diseases: coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer and type-2 diabetes mellitus (Fig. 1.3).

Fig. 1.3 Number of deaths avoided in 2030, related to four non-communicable diseases by moving from the benchmark diet of national average food consumption to the four healthy and sustainable dietary patterns. Number of deaths avoided in 2030, related to four non-communicable diseases (coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer and type-2 diabetes mellitus) by moving from the benchmark diet of national average food consumption to the four healthy and sustainable dietary patterns. The four alternative healthy diet patterns for the analysis include the flexitarian (FLX), the pescatarian (PSC), the vegetarian (VEG) and the vegan (VGN) diet. From FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, & WHO. (2020). The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020. Transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets. doi:https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9692en. Reproduced with permission.

Mission 7: Integrate big data, information technology, and artificial intelligence throughout the food chain. The main needs of this mission are to use multivariate data and machine learning to build reliable models for material/process interactions in food manufacture and identify statistical relationships between diet and health. It will also be important to guarantee valid data and develop secure methods to link information flows through the food chain (improving traceability, standardizing safety, and reducing costs and waste). The proper use of this data could contribute to all the previous missions, thereby helping to design a more efficient food system.

Globally, the food system has already made tremendous advances in helping to preserve and convert different types of natural resources into foods for human consumption, as well as ensuring they are delivered intact to the final consumer. The improvement in the sustainability and efficiency of the food chain will require a multidisciplinary approach and collaboration among different stakeholders. Food structure design can have an important role in several aspects. One of the highest impacts of this approach will be in the development of nutritionally-balanced foods, where the use of new or side stream materials, innovative processing technologies (Chapters 2–10) and mathematical and analytical approaches can highly impact these developments (Chapters 11–14).

1.2: Trends in human food consumption: The diet shift

People’s diet is influenced by several factors, including culture, religion, climate, and traditions, which varies across countries, regions, and households. In 2017, it was shown that diets are changing rapidly, particularly with respect to fat, artificial sweeteners, and animal-sourced foods (Oberlander et al., 2017). In particular, it appears to be a global movement towards the so-called Western diet (Khoury et al., 2014). This diet is characterized by a high intake of refined carbohydrates, sugars, fats, processed foods, animal-sourced foods and an inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables (Popkin et al., 2012). In a study of the dietary changes of 118 countries from 1960 to 2010, it was shown that the total calorie intake increased for all countries and the nutritional quality decreased (Le et al., 2020) (Fig. 1.4).

Fig. 1.4

Fig. 1.4 Dietary quality from 1960 to 2010 based on the Mediterranean Adequacy Index for five dietary types. From Le, Disegna, Lloyd, (2020). Dietary quality from 1960 to 2010 based on the Mediterranean Adequacy Index (Fidanza et al. 2004) for five dietary types.

The results show that all of the five dietary types are becoming less healthy but they also showed that this has happened because each diet has replaced carbohydrates with fats, which the authors claim reflect the transition from plant-based to animal-based foods (Fig. 1.5).

Fig. 1.5

Fig. 1.5 Changes in macronutrient composition between 1961 and 2013. From Le, Disegna, Lloyd, (2020). Changes in macronutrient composition between 1961 and 2013.

Recent studies suggest that global food consumption should shift to more plant-based foods, not only to increase the healthiness of the diets but also due to the environmental impact of animal-based foods. For instance, the EAT-Lancet commission presented global targets, based on available data and evidence for healthy diets and sustainable food production that could guarantee the UN SDGs and Paris Agreement are achieved (Willett et al., 2019). The commission presented a universal diet that could be used as a healthy reference diet and provided insights into how this diet could help improve the environment and human health. The healthy reference diet consists of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and unsaturated oils, and includes a low to moderate amount of seafood and poultry, as well as a low quantity or red meat, processed meat, added sugar, refined grains, and starchy vegetables. The commission integrated the universal healthy diets and global scientific targets for sustainable food systems to provide scientific planetary boundaries to reduce environmental degradation caused by food production.

Recently, Smith et al. (2021) presented a computational model called DELTA that was able to determine the nutrient adequacy of current and proposed global food systems. With this model, it was possible to study several scenarios, such as the increase of population in 2030, and the change of the diet. For a scenario where the population increased to 8.6 billion people and there was a change in population structure (i.e., a higher ratio of adults to children and of women to men), the deficiency in calcium and vitamin E (already observed in 2018) will increase, and iron, potassium, riboflavin, vitamin A and vitamin B-12 will appear in the list of deficient nutrients. There may therefore be a need to fortify foods with bioavailable forms of these nutrients in the future. It is important to highlight that this deficiency is not related to a decrease in food consumption but mostly with an unbalanced diet. Another example is the no meat scenario in 2030, where all meat and seafood production was set to zero, and the remaining food groups were increased by 20% to have a similar total biomass production. In this scenario, the food available increased (due to reduced animal feed), however, the nutrient needs for iron, zinc and vitamin B-12 increased, which would require the consumption of more macronutrients to achieve the desired nutrients required and thus cause an excess intake of energy. In 2017, EFSA presented a technical report with the dietary reference values of nutrients for the population, covering water, fats, carbohydrates and dietary fiber, protein, energy, as well as 14 vitamins and 13 minerals (EFSA, 2017). Several reference values were reported that can be used to design foods and plan diets. These new approaches could help design foods that are nutritionally balanced without increasing the number of calories consumed.

In the last 10 years has been a large increase in consumers demanding organic and more natural products combined with an interest in more environmentally friendly products. These new trends have led to new challenges for the food industry, such as the reformulation of existing products using new technologies and ingredients. This trend has been linked to the term clean label. Clean label products demand arose, requesting that the use of ingredients and additives used for years by the food industry were replaced by more natural alternatives due to a shift in consumers' choices, where the natural had become one of the most important factors for food’s selection (Asioli et al., 2017).

The trends in food consumption are being driven by various factors, including nutrient fortification (micro and macronutrients) to improve human health; the demand for healthy diets, and sustainability factors. The sustainability factors are perhaps one of the most challenging in the food industry and will only be possible through collaboration between all stakeholders.

1.3: Food structure design for nutrition and health benefits

The creation of nutritionally balanced and healthy processed foods requires careful ingredient selection and processing. Many processing operations can cause the degradation of important nutrients thereby reducing their efficacy, including dehydration, extrusion, thermal processing, and pasteurization. Moreover, operations such as homogenization and thermal processing can breakdown the structure of natural plant materials, which increases the digestibility of macronutrients (such as starch and fat), which can adversely affect the hormonal and metabolic systems. For these reasons, food processing has often been associated with unhealthy and unsustainable diets. These foods are often classified as processed foods (PF) or ultra-processed foods (UPF). In the past decade, several researchers and companies have shown that it is possible to create processed foods that have good nutritional balances (Ludwig et al., 2019; Monteiro et al., 2019).

Processed foods can also be classified according to their nutritional profiles (Sadler et al., 2021). However, the classification criteria used are often ambiguous, inconsistent, and opposed by many researchers, mostly because they do not fully consider the scientific evidence on the nutritional aspects of foods. One example is the NOVA classification system that proposed four food categories: unprocessed or minimally processed foods; processed culinary ingredients; processed foods; and ultra-processed foods (Monteiro et al., 2010, 2018). Several stakeholders around the world have used this classification to categorize their foods. However, in recent years, this classification system has been criticized by many researchers because it is too broad and does not consider the nutritional aspects of the foods (Gibney et al., 2017). For example, Vergeer et al. (2019) compared the nutritional quality of more- versus less-processed packaged foods and beverages in Canada. They used a large, branded food database and two processing classification systems: NOVA (Monteiro et al., 2018) and one proposed by Poti et al. (2015). They showed that most processed products under both systems are lower in protein and higher in total and free sugars, when compared with less-processed foods while the association of other nutrients/components and level of processing were less consistent. They concluded that calorie- and nutrient-dense foods exist across different levels of processing. They also suggested that food choices and dietary recommendations should not focus on processing classification but on energy or nutrient density. On the other side, Hall et al. (2019) conducted a randomized controlled trial examining the effects of ultra-processed versus unprocessed diets on ad libitum energy intake. The ultra-processed and unprocessed diets matched for calories, sugar, fat, fiber, and macronutrients, and the participants were instructed to consume as much or as little as desired. The results showed that the energy intake was higher in the case of the diet with ultra-processed foods (more 508 kcal/day), when compared to the unprocessed diet. They also observed that participants gained 0.9 kg on the ultra-processed diet and lost 0.9 kg on the unprocessed diet.

Several factors affect healthy diets but in the case of PF and UPF the design of foods that improve healthiness, and at the same time maintain consumer satisfaction, requires a detailed understanding of food microstructure and the interaction of food structures with physiological and behavioral processes occurring upon ingestion. These aspects are discussed in Chapters 11, 12, and 14. The oral processing and gastrointestinal behavior of foods are the main interfaces between food structure and their physiological effect on the consumer. In fact, the idea that food reformulation can improve the nutritional quality of food products and effectively promote healthier diets is not new and have been proposed by several stakeholders (Giner & Brooks, 2019). Food reformulation has focused on reducing or replacing trans fats and saturated fats, reducing sugar and salt content, and several programs were promoted by the governments and companies in this regard (Public Health England, 2015, 2017). However, this reformulation takes time, and it is not easy to remove some ingredients and additives that have been used in foods for decades to contribute to preservation, texture, and taste. Reducing salt, sugar, and fats are perhaps the most challenging ones. Poole and co-workers have presented strategies for replacing sugar and fats in foods (Poole et al., 2020), while Sun and co-workers have presented strategies to reduce salt in foods (Sun et al., 2021). The strategies to reduce salt, sugar and fats in foods are discussed in Chapters 8, 9 and 10, respectively. It should be noted that there is still much debate among nutritionists about the adverse effects of salts, sugars, and saturated fats on human health.

Food classifications can help stakeholders decide what foods and diets would be adequate in different parts of the world and in different contexts. However, the complexity of foods makes it difficult to use simple food processing classifications to define diets. In addition, the food processing level cannot be linked to the nutritional aspects or food’s health benefits since there are several processed and ultra-processed foods that can accomplish all the nutritional requirements and bring health benefits to consumers. More sophisticated approaches should define the nutritional composition of foods, as well as the rate and extent of release of the nutrients during digestion. Processing may either increase or decrease nutrient bioavailability depending on the nutrient type, food type, and processing method.

The association between the level of food processing (as defined by the NOVA classification scheme) on the energy intake rate for 327 foods from 5 different studies has been examined (Forde et al., 2020). These authors showed that by increasing the level of food processing (i.e., from unprocessed to UPFs), the average energy intake rate goes from 35.5 kcal/min to 69.4 ± 3.1 kcal/min, but they observed that for each processing category, there is wide variability in the energy intake rate. They concluded that the relations between the level of food processing and obesity should also consider the differences in energy intake rates and that well-controlled human feeding trials are needed to define the causal mechanisms of ultra-processed foods that result in higher energy intakes.

Another factor that needs to be considered is the eating rate. Slowing down the eating rate to moderate food intake has been confirmed by several studies, which have shown that eating rate and chews per bite influence food intake (Ford et al., 2010; Galhardo et al., 2012). However, decreasing the eating rate of consumers under everyday conditions is hard, and can probably only be reliably achieved under controlled conditions. Food texture can be controlled to induce consumers to reduce their eating rate and, therefore their energy intake. Several studies have shown that harder foods are eaten more slow, which helps to reduce the energy intake of foods by modifying eating behavior (Forde et al., 2017; Wee et al., 2018). The effects of food texture on oral processing behavior and energy intake have been reviewed recently (Bolhuis & Forde, 2020). The authors confirmed that the bite size and chewing behavior (two oral processing characteristics) influenced both eating rate and food intake. The hardness and elasticity of solid foods increased chews per bite and decreased bite sizes, which resulted in a reduction of eating rate and food intake. Conversely, when the ability of foods to lubricate the mouth increases, it can stimulate faster eating rates by reducing the chews per bite required to agglomerate a swallowable bolus. The authors also concluded that the shape and size of foods could influence the eating rate and food intake since they influence bite sizes and surface area, which can change the moisture uptake, and influence bolus formation. In the case of semi-solid foods, the viscosity and particle size also affected the eating rate and food intake.

These results suggest that food design can help reduce energy intake by controlling the textural characteristics of foods and their behavior in the mouth. Chapter 14 discusses how food texture can be controlled and studied by analytical methods and how it can be used during food formulation.

1.4: Conclusions and future perspectives

Researchers and industry need to work together to find new strategies to tackle some of the challenges with the modern food system. The development of healthier and more sustainable foods will require people with different expertise to work together to address this problem, including agriculturalists, farmers, chemists, engineers, biologists, entrepreneurs, industrialists, nutritionists, and physiologists. The design and engineering of foods by changing their composition and structure can be part of the solution by developing foods with improved nutrition that can contribute to improve health and well-being and be sustainable with a low carbon footprint. Understanding and directing consumer behavior will also be crucial to overcome some of these challenges. Any newly designed foods that are healthier and more sustainable must also be affordable, delicious, and convenient, otherwise consumers will not adopt them.

Reverse engineering can be used to identify the ingredients and processes that should be used to create the desired attributes in foods, such as appearance, texture, shelf life, mouthfeel, nutritional profile, and consumer acceptance. This strategy relies on a good understanding of the molecular and physicochemical basis of food properties and their interactions with humans. Foods are extremely complex multicomponent materials, and the human mouth and digestive tract are also extremely complicated, which makes this difficult. However, big data and artificial intelligence algorithms may be useful for linking food properties to their composition and structure. This strategy could help design personalized foods based on consumers’ nutritional and sensorial needs, as well as improve their environmental impact.

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Chapter 2: New food structures and their influence on nutrition, health and well-being

D. Subhasri; J.A. Moses; C. Anandharamakrishnan    Computational Modeling and Nanoscale Processing Unit, National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management-Thanjavur, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

With health and wellness becoming a part of living, scientists and chefs around the world are looking forward to better solutions for the customization of nutrition. Consumption of foods containing higher amounts of sugar, fat, and salt leads to chronic diseases. Hence the need for sugar, fat, salt replacers with better functional property were in high demand. Also, a specifically tailored diet for dysphagic patients, children, astronauts, army personnel needs to be developed. To achieve this, a multidisciplinary approach is needed. The food structure design is the dedicated conception and fabrication of foods in such a way as to attain specific structures, functions, or properties. Beyond contributing to texture, sensory properties, shelf life, and stability, control of food structure can alter the kinetics and extent of food digestion. Different types of interactions also affect the taste perception, like interactions in the food matrix, peripheral physiological interactions, and mechanical/structural interactions during mastication impart flavor at a sensory level. This book chapter deals with new food structures which can impart nutritional and health benefits along with various contributing factors influencing the formation of new food structures an industrial perspective is discussed.

Keywords

Food digestion; Food structuring techniques; New food structures; Nutrition; Health; Well-being

2.1: Introduction

Food is begun to be dealt with in terms of soft matter. Food scientists have started to realize the potential of soft matter and its importance in the science of dealing with food structure. In food processing, precise execution of unit processes is essential to ensure stable structure formation, newer gastronomic experience and the development of new food products for better nutrition. There is a strong transition towards healthier food structures based on natural and processed food ingredients. With health and wellness being of prior importance among consumers, there is a huge demand placed to the food industries for the production of new products which are nutritious, sustainable, and also