Mexico, Aug. 15 (Notimex).- Students and professors of the Department of Research and Postgraduate in Food of the Autonomous University of Querétaro (UAQ, for its acronym in Spanish) carried out a project to obtain dietary fiber from by-products of the coffee industry.
Through studies of nutrient composition, nutraceutical and bioaccessibility in the digestive tract, scientist Rocío Campos Vega discovered that residues of coffee for coffee makers and those of the soluble coffee industry are an important source of dietary antioxidant fiber.
“In real terms, only five to ten percent of the coffee cherry is used; everything else is by-product between peel, mucilage, or silvery skin; in that sense, the residue represents about 50 percent,” said the expert who runs the project.
In an interview with the Information Agency of the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt, for its acronym in Spanish), Campos Vega explained that for the extraction and concentration of the coffee fiber, they used a technology called ohmic heating.
“With this technological proposal, we have obtained a high antioxidant dietary fiber from coffee residue,” he said.
The scientist added that they could also demonstrate their antioxidant capacity in plasma, increased fecal excretion and promotion of satiety, among other benefits.
“In addition, in vitro studies have shown its potential to inhibit the enzyme α-glucosidase, an indicator of the potential antioxidant dietary fiber of coffee used as a natural source of antidiabetic compounds,” she said.
Campos Vega stressed that one of her works was to incorporate this fiber as an ingredient in a model food, in this case: cookies.
The specialist said they also studied their physiological effect in people, where through an acute study (a short test), they evaluated the feeling of satiety, that is, decreased hunger in people.
Campos Vega and her research team are already in patent process for the technological proposal, which in addition to providing benefits to health is environmentally friendly.
Parque Biotecnologico UAQ (Photo: UAQ)
Source: http://www.notimex.gob.mx/
