Food composition comprising desferrichrysin

Abstract

The present invention relates to a food composition. In particular the invention relates to a non-beverage food composition comprising desferrichrysin, iron, phenolic chromophore compounds and culinary fruit. Further aspects of the invention are the use of desferrichrysin to prevent color change in an iron fortified food product and a process for fortifying a food product with iron.

Claims

1. A non-beverage food composition comprising desferrichrysin, iron, phenolic chromophore compounds and culinary fruit selected from the group consisting of blackcurrant, cranberry, elderberry, red currant, boysenberry, grape, cherry, orange, lemon, lime, mandarin, tangerine, grapefruit, pineapple, mango, papaya, passion fruit, kiwifruit, guava, fig, date, apple, plum, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, apricot, pear, banana, quince, wolfberry and mixtures thereof.

2. The non-beverage food composition according to claim 1 wherein the desferrichrysin is in the form of ferrichrysin, being complexed with iron.

3. The non-beverage food composition according to claim 1 wherein the phenolic chromophore compounds are selected from the group consisting of curcumin; carminic acid; polyphenols; and mixtures thereof.

4. The non-beverage food composition according to claim 1 wherein the Eab* value of the food composition is less than 3 after a heat treatment of 2 minutes at 105 C.

5. The non-beverage food composition according to claim 1 wherein the phenolic chromophore compounds comprise anthocyanins.

6. The non-beverage food composition according to claim 1 wherein the food composition is red in color.

7. The non-beverage food composition according to claim 1 wherein the food composition comprises yoghurt.

8. A method for preventing color change in an iron fortified food product comprising a culinary fruit selected from the group consisting of blackcurrant, cranberry, elderberry, red currant, boysenberry, grape, cherry, orange, lemon, lime, mandarin, tangerine, grapefruit, pineapple, mango, papaya, passion fruit, kiwifruit, guava, fig, date, apple, plum, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, apricot, pear, banana, quince, wolfberry and mixtures thereof, the method comprising adding desferrichrysin to the iron fortified food product.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the color change over the product's shelf-life is prevented.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the color change during heat treatment of the product is prevented.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the desferrichrysin is in the form of ferrichrysin, being complexed with iron.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the iron fortified food product comprises anthocyanins.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein the iron fortified food product is a fruit pure or fruit yoghurt.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the iron fortified food product is selected from the group consisting of a biscuit; cake; pastry product; a cereal bar; a breakfast cereal; an ice cream product; a dessert; a prepared meal; a nutritional supplement and a pet food product.

15. A process for fortifying a food product with iron, the process comprising: preparing a non-beverage food product containing culinary fruit selected from the group consisting of blackcurrant, cranberry, elderberry, red currant, boysenberry, grape, cherry, orange, lemon, lime, mandarin, tangerine, grapefruit, pineapple, mango, papaya, passion fruit, kiwifruit, guava, fig, date, apple, plum, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, apricot, pear, banana, quince, wolfberry and mixtures thereof; and adding ferrichrysin to the non-beverage food product.

16. The process of claim 15, wherein the non-beverage food product comprises the iron in an amount of at least 5 ppm.

17. The process of claim 15, wherein the ferrichrysin is at least 100 ppm of the non-beverage food product.

18. The process of claim 15, wherein the culinary fruit is 5 to 99.985 wt. % of the non-beverage food product.

19. The process of claim 15 further comprising adding phenolic chromophore compounds selected from the group consisting of curcumin, carminic acid, polyphenols, and mixtures thereof to the non-beverage food product separately from the culinary fruit.

20. The process of claim 19 wherein the phenolic chromophore compounds are between 0.0005 and 5 wt. % of the non-beverage food product.

Description

EXAMPLES

Iron Fortified Strawberry-Banana Yoghurt

(1) Commercial yoghurt, Nestl Jogolino Strawberry/Banana yoghurt containing 15% banana puree and 10% strawberry puree was iron fortified by the addition of different iron salts to 5 kg yoghurt as reported in the table below. The amounts were chosen to provide approximately 0.8 mg iron per 100 g yoghurt. Ferrous sulphate, ferric sodium EDTA and ferric pyrophosphate were obtained from Dr Paul Lohmann; ferrichrysin was obtained from Genaxxon Bioscience. The yoghurts were flash pasteurized at 105 C. for 2 minutes. Colour measurements were performed in 11 cm polystyrene cuvettes using an X-Rite ColorEye 7000A colorimeter. The colorimeter was set up with a D65 light source, 10 degree observer angle and with specular component included. The colour difference between the yoghurt with no iron salts and the iron fortified yoghurt was measured for each iron salt and expressed as Eab* using the CIELAB colour scale.

(2) TABLE-US-00001 Trial No Fe Salt % Fe Amount (mg) Eab* 1 FeSO.sub.4 H.sub.20 32.0 124.3 4.74 2 NaFeEDTA H.sub.20 12.5 318.0 3.11 3 Fe.sub.4(P.sub.2O.sub.7).sub.3 H.sub.2O 24.0 165.6 3.43 4 Ferrichrysin 4.6 863.5 1.57

(3) The yoghurt fortified with ferrichrysin had the closest colour to the yoghurt with no added iron.

(4) 70 g samples of the fortified yoghurt samples described above were placed in 100 mL glass jars and stored at 37 C. for 120 days. Colour measurements were performed at a range of time intervals. The colour difference between the colour of the stored yoghurts and their colour as measured immediately after pasteurization was calculated for each yoghurt sample and is reported in the table below.

(5) TABLE-US-00002 Eab* Trial No Fe Salt day 7 day 30 day 60 day 120 0 None 0.75 1.97 3.77 6.83 1 FeSO.sub.4 H.sub.20 0.78 3.27 5.91 10.34 2 NaFeEDTA H.sub.20 0.96 4.16 6.93 9.37 3 Fe.sub.4(P.sub.2O.sub.7).sub.3 H.sub.2O 1.09 3.61 6.21 10.23 4 Ferrichrysin 1.03 1.32 3.77 6.46

(6) The colour change over time for the yoghurt fortified with ferrichrysin was smaller than the yoghurts fortified by the other iron salts. Indeed, the yoghurt fortified with ferrichrysin had a similar colour change to the unfortified yoghurt over the 120 day period.