Researchers of group of Micro-Separation Techniques of the University of Alcalá de Henares (UAH) participate in a project based on adding bioactive ingredients from peach and olive stones to food, in order to provide antioxidant, antihypertensive and hypocholesterolemic properties.
The research focuses on extracting from these agri-food sub-products, peptides that will provide other foods with functional properties that help in the prevention of hypertension or cholesterol, among other diseases. Now, the potential of these bioactive peptides to be added to foods such as yoghurts, meat products or vegetable or fruit juices, which are consumed regularly in the diet, will be investigated.
The person in charge at the University of Alcalá de Henares of the project and professor of Analytical Chemistry, Dr. María Concepción García, has pointed out that "the stones of some fruits such as peaches or olive stones are important sources of functional ingredients such as bioactive peptides, which must be extracted and characterized in order to propose suitable strategies for their reuse".
Functional food contains substances that could have a positive effect in the state of health, besides providing those who consume them with the necessary nutrients to cover the physiological necessities. These are increasingly demanded products due, among other issues, to the increase in life expectancy and the impact on health of unhealthy eating behaviors, which translate into an increase in the incidence of diseases such as hypertension or hypercholesterolemia.
Thus far, the functional ingredients were limited, in most cases, from milk peptides and dairy foods, which made the cost of these products not available to everyone. With this research, the range is opened and the incorporation of these agro-food sub-products, to obtain bioactive products for the production of functional foods, will reduce the cost and, therefore, make it easier for this type of food to reach a greater number of consumers.
It also has a positive environmental impact, because the food waste is exploited while they are extracted from high-caloric compounds.
The research will be possible thanks to the project "Peptifunctional-Development of new functional foods based on the incorporation of bioactive peptides extracted from sub-products of the agri-food industry: valuation of fruit and olives stones", subsidized by the Center for Technological Development Industrial (CDTI) and supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Mineco), within the FERER Innterconecta Program.