Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PREPARATION OR TREATMENT THEREOF
  • A23L33/00—Modifying nutritive qualities of foods; Dietetic products; Preparation or treatment thereof
  • A23L33/20—Reducing nutritive value; Dietetic products with reduced nutritive value
  • A23L33/21—Addition of substantially indigestible substances, e.g. dietary fibres
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PREPARATION OR TREATMENT THEREOF
  • A23L33/00—Modifying nutritive qualities of foods; Dietetic products; Preparation or treatment thereof
  • A23L33/10—Modifying nutritive qualities of foods; Dietetic products; Preparation or treatment thereof using additives
  • A23L33/105—Plant extracts, their artificial duplicates or their derivatives
  • A23L33/11—Plant sterols or derivatives thereof, e.g. phytosterols
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PREPARATION OR TREATMENT THEREOF
  • A23L7/00—Cereal-derived products; Malt products; Preparation or treatment thereof
  • A23L7/10—Cereal-derived products
  • A23L7/115—Cereal fibre products, e.g. bran, husk
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PREPARATION OR TREATMENT THEREOF
  • A23L7/00—Cereal-derived products; Malt products; Preparation or treatment thereof
  • A23L7/10—Cereal-derived products
  • A23L7/117—Flakes or other shapes of ready-to-eat type; Semi-finished or partly-finished products therefor
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PREPARATION OR TREATMENT THEREOF
  • A23L7/00—Cereal-derived products; Malt products; Preparation or treatment thereof
  • A23L7/10—Cereal-derived products
  • A23L7/117—Flakes or other shapes of ready-to-eat type; Semi-finished or partly-finished products therefor
  • A23L7/126—Snacks or the like obtained by binding, shaping or compacting together cereal grains or cereal pieces, e.g. cereal bars
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PREPARATION OR TREATMENT THEREOF
  • A23L7/00—Cereal-derived products; Malt products; Preparation or treatment thereof
  • A23L7/10—Cereal-derived products
  • A23L7/117—Flakes or other shapes of ready-to-eat type; Semi-finished or partly-finished products therefor
  • A23L7/135—Individual or non-extruded flakes, granules or shapes having similar size, e.g. breakfast cereals
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PREPARATION OR TREATMENT THEREOF
  • A23L7/00—Cereal-derived products; Malt products; Preparation or treatment thereof
  • A23L7/10—Cereal-derived products
  • A23L7/161—Puffed cereals, e.g. popcorn or puffed rice
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23V—INDEXING SCHEME RELATING TO FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AND LACTIC OR PROPIONIC ACID BACTERIA USED IN FOODSTUFFS OR FOOD PREPARATION
  • A23V2002/00—Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs

Definitions

• the present invention concerns improved breakfast cereals.
• the new products have decreased soaking and they are healthier due to added ingredients.
• breakfast cereals are consumed as bread or porridge or as a part of food preparations.
• Breakfast cereals are currently consumed in increasing amounts, and there is a growing need for healthy products with high sensory quality and high nutritional value.
• Food manufacturers have already added a variety of ingredients, such as sugar, honey, oil, and more recently chocolate to breakfast cereals.
• the textural characteristics of breakfast cereals play an essential role in determining the final acceptance by consumers.
• the texture is often more important than e.g. taste and colour. Textural characteristics can be defined for example as crispiness and mouthfeel. Both stickiness and softness are unwanted characteristics and they are related to soaking of the product.
• the most important factor concerning the sensory properties of breakfast cereals is the texture when liquid, e.g. milk or juice, is already added.
• Dietary fibres contain insoluble and soluble substances.
• the cholesterol-lowering effects have mainly been associated to soluble fibres because of their viscosity behaviour, but also insoluble fibres may affect the serum cholesterol levels, ⁇ -glucan and especially ⁇ -glucan from oat, is known to have cholesterol-lowering effect, and FDA has approved a health claim on the cholesterol-lowering effect for oat products containing at least 0.75 grams of oat ⁇ -glucan per serving.
• FDA has approved a health claim on the cholesterol-lowering effect for oat products containing at least 0.75 grams of oat ⁇ -glucan per serving.
• Added fibre may change the product's mouthfeel to be too mealy and the appearance may become dusty, grey and less attractive.
• the main disadvantage of adding dietary fibre to breakfast cereals is that it increases the product's absorption of liquid. Also breakfast cereals containing no or only a small amount of dietary fibre absorb liquid very easily and loose its crispiness when liquid, such as milk, is poured on the cereals before
• the present invention decreases soaking of breakfast cereals by adding plant sterol esters to the product. It is believed that the plant sterol esters are capable of coating the ingredients otherwise easily soaking when liquid is added to the product before eating and thereby the crispiness and mouthfeel of the product is retained.
• the breakfast cereals according to the invention are characterised by what is stated in the characterising part of claim 1.
• the method of decreasing soaking of the breakfast cereals according to the invention is characterised by what is stated in the characterising part of claim 11.
• soaking relates to less pleasant textural characteristics, or- ganoleptic properties, mouthfeel, crispiness, appearance and taste after liquid has been added to the breakfast cereals.
• liquid comprises all moisturising components such as e.g. milk, water, juice, yoghurt or kefir.
• breakfast cereals comprises breakfast cereals and between meals products that usually are eaten with some liquid, such as mueslies and crunchies. These breakfast cereals include puffed, flaked, malted, baked, extruded, shredded and/or granulated cereals, and cereals or grains that have been cooked or otherwise heat- treated.
• breakfast cereals comprises also any mixture of above-mentioned cereals.
• the breakfast cereals may also contain other ingredients such as oil, sugar, dried fruits, nuts, chocolate, flavouring agents, vitamines, minerals and other healthy components, and they may be coated e.g. using oil and sugar and/or toasted. Soy and other legumes may also be added to the breakfast cereals.
• the cereals or grains for the purposes of the present invention include e.g.
• plant sterol include both sterols and saturated sterols, i.e. stanols.
• the sterols include 4-desmethyl sterols, 4-monomethyl sterols and 4,4-dimethyl sterols (triterpene alcohols) and the stanols include 4-desmefhyl stanols, 4-monomethyl stanols and 4,4-dimethyl stanols.
• Typical 4-desmethyl sterols are sitosterol, campesterol, stigmasterol, brassicasterol, 22-dehydrobrassicasterol and ⁇ 5-avenasterol.
• Typical 4,4-dimethyl sterols are cycloartol, 24- methylenecycloartol and cyclobranol.
• Typical stanols are sitostanol, campestanol and their 24-epimers, cycloartanol and saturated forms obtained by saturation of e.g. triterpene alcohols (cycloartenol, 24-methylenecycloartol and cyclobranol).
• plant sterol includes all possible natural blends or any mixtures of named sterols and/or stanols as well as any individual sterol or stanol.
• the plant sterols are esterified with an organic acid and they are here called “plant sterol esters” or “esterified plant sterols".
• suitable organic acids are fatty acids (2-24 carbon atoms, saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated, including also special fatty acids, such as conjugated fatty acids, e.g. CLA, and EPA and DHA), hydroxybenzoic acids, hydroxycinnamic acids (fer- rulic and coumaric acids), di- and tricarboxylic acids and hydroxy acids, and any mixture of said acids.
• fatty acids 2-24 carbon atoms, saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated, including also special fatty acids, such as conjugated fatty acids, e.g. CLA, and EPA and DHA), hydroxybenzoic acids, hydroxycinnamic acids (fer- rulic and coumaric acids), di- and tricarboxylic acids and hydroxy acids, and any mixture of said acids.
• sucrose refers to any sweetener that has an effect on product structure including sugars and sugar alcohols and any source of them. Most preferably the sugar is sucrose based sugars such as white sugar crystals, brown sugar, sugar syrup, malt syrup, maple syrup, honey, molasses or a source of these.
• sugar refers also to the constituents of sucrose i.e. glucose and/or fructose. However, the term sugar does not include sugars from dried fruits and/or berries in the product.
• dietary fibres is here meant both insoluble (polysaccharides such as cellulose and hemicellulose) and soluble dietary fibres (e.g. fibre enriched material (such as enriched flour) or fibre concentrates).
• the dietary fibres include fibres of cereal origin, such as wheat, oats, rye, barley, rice, corn, buckwheat, triticale, millet or sorghum, or they can be fibres from any other vegetable material, such as soy, potato, sugar beet, beans, peas, carrots, or of other plant origin, such as guar gum, pectin, psyllium, resistant starch, inulin, arabinoxylans or oligofractans, or of microbial origin.
• the primary object of the present invention is thus breakfast cereals with decreased soaking after liquid is added, wherein the breakfast cereals comprise plant sterol esters in an amount from 2.2 to 25 weight-%.
• these breakfast cereals comprise from 5 to 50 weigth-% of sugar, and more preferably the breakfast cereals are toasted to improve the organoleptic properties and decrease soaking even more.
• the level of plant sterol esters in the breakfast cereals is from 2.2 to 25 weight-%, preferably 2.5-15 weight- % and more preferably 2.7-10 weight-%.
• the plant sterol ester is a plant sterol fatty acid ester.
• the fatty acid ester is technically very suitable for incorporation into breakfast cereals.
• the plant sterol in the plant sterol ester is a stanol because its absorption is negligible and the use of stanol is therefore safer.
• the physical properties of stanol are more suitable for this purpose, because the stanol is saturated.
• At least 10 weight-%, more preferably at least 50 weight-%, even more preferably at least 70 weight-%, even more preferably at least 90 weight-% and most preferably about 100 weight-% of the plant sterol esters comprise stanol fatty acid esters.
• the sugar content of the breakfast cereals is from 8 to 30 weight-%, more preferably from 10 to 20 weight-%.
• the incorporation of plant sterol ester into the breakfast cereals according to the invention can be performed using any known techniques for adding triglycerides. E.g. it can be introduced into the dough when breakfast cereals are prepared, or it can be coated onto the surface of some component(s) of the cereals or to the final cereal mixture. The coating can be accomplished e.g. by spraying or mixing. If the product contains also triglycerides the plant sterol ester is preferably mixed with the fat phase before applying it to the breakfast cereals. A preferred way is to mix the fatty phase containing the plant sterol ester with a sugar and then applying the coating.
• the breakfast cereals are toasted.
• Toas- ting is performed to develop desired colour and flavour, as well as moisture content.
• toasting is performed at about 170-330 °C.
• Toasting can be performed to any type of breakfast cereals according to the definition (e.g. cooked, extruded, puffed, flaked, shredded or granulated), but preferably the sugar content of the product is from 5 to 50 weight-%.
• An example of a process for preparing a muesli product according to the invention comprises mixing the sugar slurry, plant sterol ester, oil, flaked oats and other dry components (e.g. dry fruits) together. After mixing the muesli is toasted and sifted so that the final product contains aggregates of sizes between 2 to 11 mm. The ag- gregates are crispy and fragile, but not hard. Adding plant sterol ester to the muesli product will decrease soaking when the muesli is in contact with a liquid just before eating. Increasing the plant sterol ester amount also enhances the appearance of the product. The product will look more shiny, and less grey and dusty.
• the sensory properties often dete- riorate. Added fibre may change the product's mouthfeel and appearance to become less attractive. High fibre contents very often cause organoleptic problems.
• the present invention relates to high-fibre breakfast cereals containing from 3.5 to 60 weight-% of fibre, which cereals have improved sensory quality. These products are also healthier since they are suitable for reducing serum total and/or LDL cholesterol levels.
• the amount of dietary fibres in the breakfast cereals according to the invention may vary from 0 to 60 weight-%.
• the level of dietary fibres in the product is from 3.5 to 60 weight-%, preferably from 5 to 60 weight-%, and most preferably from 10 to 60 weight-%.
• the soaking of these high-fibre products is preferably decreased by toasting.
• the sugar content of the breakfast cereals is from 17.5 to 50 weight-%, preferably from 18 to 50 weight-%, more preferably from 20 to 50 weight-%.
• These products include puffed and/or extruded cereals in an amount of at least 50 weight-%, preferably at least 70 weight-%, most preferably at least 90 weight-% calculated on their cereal portion. Extruding and puffing can be accomplished in any prior known manner. Although these products do not necessarily contain much fibre they are still very easily soaked. In these products the sugar has an important role in still decreasing soaking.
• the fibre content of these breakfast cereals vary from 0 to 60 weight-%, preferably from 0 to 20 weight-%, more preferably from 0 to 10 weight-% and most preferably from 0 to 3.0 weight- %. These products may also be toasted.
• a preferred embodiment of the invention is breakfast cereals containing 3.5 to 60 weight-% of dietary fibre, and 2.2 to 25 weight-%, preferably from 2.5 to 15 weight-% and most preferably from 2.7 to 10 weight-% of plant sterol ester. Soaking of this product is decreased and it has a good sensory quality, low energy content, and also a significant serum cholesterol-lowering effect.
• Still another object of the invention is a method for decreasing the soaking of breakfast cereals after liquid is added by using plant sterol esters in an amount of 2.2 to 25 weight-% in the preparation of the breakfast cereals.
• Said breakfast cereals are as defined above in connection with the description of the qualitative and quantitative compositions of the breakfast cereals of the invention.
• the main advantages of the present invention are: - Improvement in the sensory quality of breakfast cereals related to decreased soaking and improved or retained crispiness.
• Table 1 shows the effect on the soaking properties of a breakfast cereal product when adding plant sterol esters and also when varying the sugar content.
• the soaking test was performed in the following way:
• the tested product was commercial rice crispy containing no dietary fibres.
• the process for preparation of the sugar-fat blends comprised mixing sucrose based sugar, plant stanol fatty acid ester and rapeseed oil together. Then rice crispies were mixed together with the blends. After mixing the samples were toasted. The final samples were crispy and fragile but not hard. Table 1
• the muesli was prepared by mixing sugar, syrup, plant stanol ester and oil together. Flaked oats and other dry components (e.g. dry fruits) were blended. Finally all the ingredients were mixed together. After mixing the muesli was toasted and sifted so that the final product contained aggregates of sizes between 2 to 11 mm. The aggregates were crispy and fragile, but not hard.
• Example 3
• the muesli was prepared by mixing sugar, syrup, plant sterol ester and oil together. All other components were mixed. Finally the mixtures were blended. Thereafter the muesli was toasted and sifted so that the final product contained aggregates of sizes between 2 to 11 mm. The aggregates were crispy and fragile, but not hard.
• the product was prepared by mixing sugar, syrup and plant stanol ester together. Finally corn flakes were mixed together with the blend. After mixing the product was toasted. The final product was crispy and fragile but not hard.

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• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Nutrition Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Polymers & Plastics (AREA)
• Mycology (AREA)
• Botany (AREA)
• Grain Derivatives (AREA)
• Cereal-Derived Products (AREA)
• Coloring Foods And Improving Nutritive Qualities (AREA)
• Noodles (AREA)
• General Preparation And Processing Of Foods (AREA)

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• 2002
  • 2002-10-14 FI FI20021822A patent/FI20021822A0/fi unknown
• 2003
  • 2003-10-14 DE DE60319854T patent/DE60319854T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-10-14 WO PCT/FI2003/000761 patent/WO2004034815A1/en not_active Ceased
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