Defective green coffee beans and the thin red skin surrounding peanuts have just become the greatest allies of people unable to give up sugar.
Researchers affiliated with the Integrated Biotechnology Platform for Healthy Ingredients (PBIS) consortium in Brazil used extracts obtained from these agro-industrial byproducts to develop a sucrose derived from sugarcane that is absorbed much more slowly by the body.
This reduces the glycaemic index (GI) of the ingredient without altering its flavour.
“There’s now a consensus that a low GI diet is healthier because it helps prevent type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, for example.
“Therefore, a sugar with that characteristic would benefit everyone.
“People who already suffer from metabolic disorders would see significant benefits, but its use is certainly not limited to that group,” says project coordinator and Brazil’s State University of Campinas School of Food Engineering assistant professor Dr Juliana Macedo.
The product, for which a patent application has been filed with Brazil’s National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), is a crystal-form sugar substitute for food manufacturers to use in processed foods without altering formulations.
“Our goal was to develop a sugar that could be absorbed more slowly by the body, and at the same time, incorporate agro-industrial byproducts in Brazil, such as defective coffee beans rejected by the industry and peanut skins,” says Asst Prof Macedo.
The scientific basis for this innovation emerged from in vitro laboratory tests, which demonstrated that phenolic extracts derived from peanut skins and defective green coffee beans help the body process carbohydrates, such as sugar, more slowly.
Phenolic compounds are organic molecules with strong antioxidant properties that can combat free radicals and modulate metabolic processes.
The researchers’ next challenge was to transform these liquid extracts into a solid ingredient that could easily be applied in industrial processes.
They found a solution in the sucrose matrix co-crystallisation technique – a recent encapsulation method in the food industry that embeds these antioxidant extracts within sugar crystals.
To verify that the technology reduced the GI of the sugar, the researchers conducted a clinical trial with 25 volunteers over six days.
During each session, the participants consumed pure glucose, pure co-crystallised sucrose, co-crystallised sucrose with coffee only, co-crystallised sucrose with peanuts only, or a mixture containing both extracts called the “blend”.
The participants’ blood glucose levels were monitored for two hours after consumption.
Preliminary results indicated that the mixture containing peanut and coffee co-crystals significantly reduced the GI of sucrose, lowering it from moderate to low.
However, the scientists have not yet assessed whether the product has a reduced energy content.
“In principle, we assume that the caloric value is the same as that of conventional sucrose.
“But it’s also possible that this new sugar isn’t fully absorbed and that there’s some reduction.
“That’s something that would need to be tested,” Asst Prof Macedo says.
Through a partnership with the University of Bologna in Italy, the group plans to soon test the impact of the product on the human gut microbiome.
“If that sugar is absorbed more slowly and remains in the gut longer, what effect does the compound have on the microbiota?
“We assume it’s positive due to the action of the antioxidant compounds,” says Asst Prof Macedo. — By Elton Alisson/Agência Fapesp
