Yogurt Enriched with Isochrysis galbana: An Innovative Functional Food

Abstract

Microalgae are a valuable and innovative emerging source of natural nutrients and bioactive compounds that can be used as functional ingredients in order to increase the nutritional value of foods to improve human health and to prevent disease. The marine microalga Isochrysis galbana has great potential for the food industry as a functional ingredient, given its richness in ω3 long chain-polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs), with high contents of oleic, linoleic, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), stearidonic, and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids. This study focuses on the formulation of a functional food by the incorporation of 2% (w/w) of I. galbana freeze-dried biomass and 2% (w/w) of I. galbana ethyl acetate lipidic extract in solid natural yogurts preparation. In the functional yogurt enriched with microalgal biomass, the ω3 LC-PUFA’s content increased (to 60 mg/100 g w/w), specifically the DHA content (9.6 mg/100 g ww), and the ω3/ω6 ratio (augmented to 0.8). The in vitro digestion study showed a poor bioaccessibility of essential ω3 LC-PUFAs, wherein linoleic acid (18:2 ω6) presented a bioaccessibility inferior to 10% and no DHA or eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) was detected in the bioaccessible fraction of the functional yogurts, thus indicating a low accessibility of lipids during digestion. Notwithstanding, when compared to the original yogurt, an added value novel functional yogurt with DHA and a higher ω3 LC-PUFAs content was obtained. The functional yogurt enriched with I. galbana can be considered important from a nutritional point of view and a suitable source of essential FAs in the human diet. However, this needs further confirmation, entailing additional investigation into bioavailability through in vivo assays.

Recent Discoveries on Marine Organism Immunomodulatory Activities

“…For instance, some microalgae have received the “GRAS” status, which stands for “generally recognized as safe” [ 157 ], and it is now common to find on the market products based on microalgae-derived powder. Additional studies are also reporting their possible use as ingredients for fresh pasta, cookies, and yogurt, as recently reported by Matos et al [ 158 ] and Ferreira et al [ 152 ]. Various studies have also highlighted the beneficial properties of marine organisms as a food source due to the presence of compounds that stimulate the immune system [ 153 , 154 ].…”

Pavlova gyrans as a potential source of essential fatty acids, sterols and pigments: culture under low temperature

“…Moreover, in this latter strain, EPA was the main ω3 found, as in P. gyrans, whereas the most abundant ω6 fatty acids were ARA in C. closterium and DPA in P. gyrans. Comparison with other haptophytes shows that Pavlova species, including P. gyrans, are a good source of EPA and DPA ω6 (Xu et al 2008; Tibbetts et al 2020), while I. galbana has a high DHA content (Bonfanti et al 2018;Matos et al 2021). The ω3/ω6 ratio obtained for P. gyrans (1.22) was lower than that reported for the other haptophytes species detailed before and similar to that obtained for C. closterium.…”

Synthesis of eicosapentaenoic acid‐enriched medium‐ and long‐chain triglyceride by lipase‐catalyzed transesterification: a novel strategy for clinical nutrition intervention

“…Recently published literature indicates that EPA has a positive effect in diminishing liver steatosis and the levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and pro‐inflammatory cytokines, with an improvement in insulin sensitivity and adiponectin levels 5,6 . Nevertheless, EPA is characterized by highly tortuous morphology and a double bond is located close to the carboxyl group, which consequently results in lower bioaccessibility of EPA 7,8 . Moreover, EPA‐containing fish oil (FO) fails to fulfill the immediate energy demands of cancer patients, due to its slow metabolic rate and low rate of energy provision 9 .…”