Effect of Medicago sativa Addition on Physicochemical, Nutritional and Functional Characteristics of Corn Extrudates

Abstract

Currently, extrudates are considered unhealthy products, being characterized as high in calories; rich in fat, sugar, and salt; and low in nutritional compounds. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of lucerne (Medicago sativa) on the physicochemical, nutritional, and functional characteristics of corn extrudates. In order to achieve these goals, water content, water activity, expansion index, bulk density, porosity, hygroscopicity, optical properties, antioxidant activity, individual phenolic acids, folates, individual flavonoids, and volatile compounds were analyzed. The results showed that the typical characteristics of corn extrudates such as expansion, crunchiness, and density were maintained with 10% lucerne addition, highlighting a strong negative Pearson correlation (p < 0.05) between all studied parameters and lucerne addition. On the other hand, the lucerne addition caused a linear increase of bioactive compounds, showing positive Pearson correlations between flavonoids, folates, and antioxidant activity. The volatile profile of corn extrudates improved with the addition of lucerne leading to volatile compounds such as limonene, β-mircene, and hexanal. Overall, considering the textural, nutritional, and functional characteristics of corn extrudates, we determined that a percentage addition on 10% lucerne could be successfully used in the manufacturing of corn extrudates.

Valorization of Rose Hip (Rosa canina) Puree Co-Product in Enriched Corn Extrudates

“…Figure 3 shows a scheme of the extrusion process performed using a single-screw laboratory extruder (Kompaktextruder KE 19/25; Brabender, Duisburg, Germany) with a barrel diameter of 19 mm and a length:diameter ratio of 25:1. The operating conditions were: 3:1 compression ratio, dosing speed of 18 rpm (feed rate range, 3.4 kg/h), and 3 mm nozzle diameter, as reported in our previous study [6]. The screw was rotated constantly at 150 rpm, and temperatures of barrel sections were set to 25, 70, 170, and 175 • C. Motor torque, screw speed, barrel temperatures (T 1 and T 2 ), and melt pressure (P) were monitored using Extruder Winext software (Brabender).…”

“…Phenolic compound extraction was described previously by Igual et al [6]. Briefly, a Reax top (Heidolph, Schwabach, Germany) vortex mixer was used with 0.5 g of sample, 2 mL methanol, and 1% HCl, and after 1 min, the resulted mixture was transferred to an ultrasonic bath (Elmasonic E15H, Elma, Singen, Germany) for 30 min.…”

“…HP-1200 liquid chromatograph (Agilent-Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA) with autosampler, MS 6110 single-quadrupole API-electrospray detector and Eclipse XDB-C18 column were used to evaluate phenolic bioactive compounds [6,30].…”

“…This could lead to solving global issues regarding the availability of sufficient food with good nutritional and safety quality and thus assuring the sustainability of food systems [4,5]. With this idea, in our recent publication, we emphasized the possibility to use alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) in corn extrudates manufacturing [6], meantime, Pasqualone et al [7] highlighted the importance of using legumes in extruded ready-to-eat foods such as lentil [8,9]. In this vein, Herrera-Cazares et al [10] mentioned that mango (Mangifera indica L.) bagasse could be successfully used to manufacture functional confections, whilst microalgae and apple pomace were used in corn extrudates by Uribe-Wandurraga et al [11] and Karkle et al [12].…”

Influence of Marination with Aromatic Herbs and Cold Pressed Oils on Black Angus Beef Meat

“…Ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) was used for the extraction of the samples, as described by Călinoiu and Vodnar [30]. Briefly, 5 g of sample was mixed with 10 mL of methanol and 1% HCl, vortexed for 1 min, sonicated for 60 min in a heated ultrasonic bath Elmasonic E 15H (Elma Schmidbauer, GmnH, Singen, Germany) and centrifugated at 2300× g for 10 min with an Eppendorf 5804 centrifuge (Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany) at 24 • C. The supernatant was filtered through a 0.45-µm nylon filter (Millipore, Merk KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) and 20 µL was injected into the HLPC system (Agilent Technologies 1200 Series, Japan, Kyoto), as previously described by Igual et al [31]. HPLC system was equipped with a pump, autosampler, DAD detector, and MS-6110 single quadrupole API-electrospray detector.…”