In recent years the definition of the human microbiome has been postulated as an essential tool for medicine, pharmacy, nutrition and other disciplines in order to understand the role of microorganisms present in the body on health and immunity. In fact, the microbiome affects aging, digestion, immune system, mood and cognitive functions.
But, what is the microbiome?
There are different definitions for this term. Generally speaking, we can say that the human microbiome is the set of microorganisms in each person (microbiota)and the genes these cells harbour.
Microbiome research area comprises a field of science associated primarily with advances in DNA / RNA sequencing and computational biology. Thus, the microbiome can be defined as the genomic content of all microorganisms recovered from a habitat or ecosystem (eg saliva, feces or skin).
The study of the microbiome started in the 17th century with the development of the first microscopes and the beginnings of the science of microbiology. However, it has been in recent years when the development of rapid sequencing methods, the reduction of the costs associated with these techniques and the development of data management techniques have been developed which has enabled the microbiome and its constituents.
And why is it important?
Taking into account that the number of microorganisms that we harbour is between 10 and 100 billion (ten times higher than our number of cells), that we can have more than ten thousand different species and that the types of microorganism vary greatly among different people, we can think that the microbiome has a special role in our health. In fact, the knowledge of these microorganisms, the functions of their genes, their metabolic and regulatory pathways is already allowing them to develop strategies to prevent diseases and improve general health.
However, the microbiome of each person is not something static. Nutritional imbalances, lifestyle, use (and abuse) of antibiotics, low exposure to pathogens (or excess of hygiene) permanently modify our microbiome.
And what is your relationship with the diet?
There is a clear relationship between what we eat and the balance of our native flora that has a direct impact on our health status. Indeed, is interesting that changes in diet are always accompanied by changes in the microbiota and the enrichment of their corresponding genes.
Balanced diets can promote a proper and well-structured microbiota and conversely, alterations in the composition of our microbiota or reduction of some of the microorganisms that make up the diversity of the microbiota, increase the risk of suffering from diseases related to lifestyle such as allergies, diabetes, obesity and / or irritable bowel syndrome. In addition, a prolonged state of these situations has been related to metabolic alterations.
Recent studies have shown that there are notable differences in the microbiota of people who follow rich meat diets versus those who follow more ancestral life-styles and diets based mainly on vegetable consumption. There are studies that suggest that a type of diet rich in proteins and animal fat is associated with a particular kind of flora while carbohydrate-rich diets are associated with the prevalence of another type of flora. These differences have been linked to the risk of developing non-communicable diseases such as atherosclerosis.
Over and undernutrition malnutrition has a direct impact on the microbiota that favours alterations of the same that, finally, lead to problems associated with an increase in inflammation and metabolic problems. A strong influence has been observed in nutrient-poor diets, especially those deficient in certain amino acids, in the positive incidence of intestinal inflammation. Likewise, the pathogenesis of various diseases is associated with certain components of the diet that promote disorders in the microbiota.
Therefore, the better balanced the diet, the more diverse the microbiota. Thus, intervention through personalized diets improves the response in individuals with low microbiome richness.
And then, can it be improved?
Of course we can! The importance of food, nutritional balance and life-style have a direct influence on the composition of our microbiota and its activity and, therefore, directly on our health. From this relationship arises the interest to develop new strategies to personalize our diet.
The term “malnutrition” refers to a state in which a deficiency, excess or imbalance of energy, proteins and other nutrients. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) more than 2 billion people on the planet suffers some form of malnutrition. When we think about malnutrition, children or adults with undernutrition come to our minds. However, malnutrition can occurs either due to a lack of certain essential micronutrients, e.g vitamins and minerals (dietary deficiency), insufficient calorie intake to ensure normal growth and life (undernutrition) or an excess of consumption of calories (overnutrition).
Nutrition-related diseases are becoming more prevalent in the world and are a serious problem, and overweight and obesity that were related to food abundance, are now a reflection of a clear malnutrition.
According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), since 1980 obesity has doubled worldwide. Specifically, by 2014 more than 1,9 billion adults (aged 18 and over) were overweight, more than 600 million of them were classified as obese. In the same year, it was established that 41 million children under 5 were overweight or obese.
The global cost of malnutrition is about $3,5 billion per year due to associated public health costs and lack of productivity.
Overweight malnutrition is a prevalent problem and increases the risk of developing metabolic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease and stroke, atherosclerosis, and is linked to several cancers due to excess of calories or lack of nutrient balance from the diet.
Economic crisis, political and social factors, cultural and biological conditions are some of the factors that influence the evolution of this problem. In our developed world, the causes that characterize malnutrition are directly related to low nutritional quality diets characterized by an excess in consumption of fat, carbohydrates, low consumption of good quality proteins, vitamins, minerals and fibre and a decrease in physical activity.
New busy life style, increased intake of high-calorie foods (in some countries healthy foods are more expensive than processed food) or inactivity are factors that have contributed to the emergence of this problem.
During the last decade, a boost has been made on nutrition as a key to the development of countries. In 2015, however, the goals for sustainable development were to achieve the end ALL forms of malnutrition by 2030, challenging the world to think and act differently on malnutrition and to end all forms of malnutrition.
Nutrition begins with what we eat. Good nutrition gives us the energy we need to live and is the first defense against diseases. Adequate nutrition is essential for good health and, likewise, poor nutrition can affect the occurrence of diseases or physical and mental underdevelopment, especially in the case of children.
Food is the way to promote health. Recently the Spanish Society of Community Nutrition (SENC) has presented the dietary guidelines and the new nutritional pyramid on which basis, of course, includes daily exercise and emotional balance.
The nutritional pyramid should be our spiritual guide to achieve an adequate nutritional balance. However, the new pyramid also raises some issues such as the presence of sausages or coldmeats as part of daily servings of protein sources, or the presence of the scary industrial pastries, sweets and sugary drinks, or salty snacks as an “optional and moderate consum” and especially the appearance of the nutritional supplements flag waving at the top of the pyramid…
Undoubtedly, there are actions that have long been necessary to eradicate this problem associated with food and that require the full involvement of the competent authorities. For example, the urgency in defining nutritional profiles that would limit food producers’ ability to make use of nutritional claims in low-nutrient products, or limiting children’s advertising of calorie foods (action, of course, which WHO has already taken with “fast food” companies) or pressure on the food industry to reformulate certain products (part of this road is already under way).
On the other hand, the necessary (I would say even mandatory) empowering of consumers on nutrition education in order to choose healthy food and diets to obtain an adequate nutritional balance. Internalize the importance of a proper nutrition, choose fresh seasonal products (and if possible, local food), limit (or do without) the consumption of foods that are not necessary (they are almost certainly calorie-rich and very cheap food), check nutritional labels and practice some regular physical activity.
There is no doubt that cereal grain are the main source of the diet of consumers around the world. In fact, global cereal production in 2016 was 2,6 million tonnes (FAO data) and account for 30 to 70% of daily energy consumption (FAO data). Cereal intake should be 2-3 servings a day, and, according to the Mediterranean diet model, the consumption of bread and cereal derivates (pasta, rice and other cereals) should preferably be done as whole grain form.
Cereal grains are a great source of carbohydrates, protein, dietary fiber, vitamins (especially from B group) and minerals. In addition to the germ and the endosperm, whole grains, in contrast to the refined ones, contain the bran fraction which is eliminated mainly during the refining process. Whole grains are a great source of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals, and there are numerous studies linking these properties to the prevention of chronic diseases.
This clear evidence of the importance of the consumption of whole grains has encouraged that many countries recommend their consumption and in some of them, like the United States, the campaign has arrived at great restaurants and schools where all type of cereals are used with the aim of modify the consumer perception of “wholegrain concept“.
In Spain, despite these recommendations, most cereal products are still made from refined flour. This happens, in part, because the food industry finds difficulties to adapt the recipes from whole grain ingredients because the incorporation of fiber generates some technological problems. On the other hand, there is a lack of demand on the part of the consumers with an educated palate to certain flavors and textures in the canons of the refined products.
Undoubtedly, there is a huge need of training consumers in the knowledge of which are the healthy options. However, there is an awakening of the industrial instinct to improve the nutritional profile of cereal based food products, through the moderation of the physiological response that they exert in the organism (eg, through reducing the glycemic index) and through the feasibility in the industrial application of whole grains, improving their incorporation into products and reducing the detrimental effects of sensory quality associated with the incorporation of fiber
A technological revolution come up to rich this challenges and to develop new cereal products that bring a clear benefit to health, such as high protein content, high fiber or whole grains, with new sensory experiences, cereals and less common flours (chia, quinoa, legumes) and of course, rich and appetizing. More whole grains in our kitchens, in our tuppers and in our appetizers.
Some of the improvements that are being made by the sector in recent years and that put technology at the service of cereals are:
Fiber-rich pre-fermented doughs, has been shown to be an advantage in the production of bread, which allows the avoidance of defects in bread volume or crumb texture that direct application of the fiber can cause. In addition, the pre-fermentation of the mass of whole grains or fiber-rich doughs gives breads with less impact on the glycemic index.
Grinding or milling systems that remove only the parts of the grain that deteriorate the technological quality of the cereals and improve the retained concentration of bioactive compounds. This means that it is possible to obtain whole flours with more nutritional quality but without the detriment of the quality in final cereal product that causes the incorporation of bran.
Softening processes of whole grains; they are processes prior to the incorporation of the grain in baking dough that allow the appearance of whole grains with a soft and pleasant texture inside the dough and that do not affect the baking process.
Another option is the of the fiber aqueous extraction, which allows the same nutritional and healthy benefits, without the detrimental effects of incorporation of fiber into bakery products.
The fractionation technologies allow the production of ingredients rich in β-glucans easily applicable thanks to better physical properties (like hydration or viscosity) and technological.
Another technological improvement to be able to offer all the value of the whole cereals is the transformation of the part of the insoluble fiber to soluble through the application of the extrusion technology.
There are many whole grains, not just wheat, waiting for their opportunity to apply the appropriate technology to favor their use while maintaining their nutritional properties and giving rise to new products based on whole grains.
There is no doubt that the snack food market is one of the strongest in the food industry, as is evidenced by its increasing market value. The snack category of food used to meaning snack chips, nuts and other traditional snacks (extruded snacks, popcorn, nachos etc.). However, the snack category is currently expanding to a large number of products that often has nothing to do with what we knew as snacks.
Historically, the snacks were something that we consumed around the daily main meals and that made us feel guilty about eating too much calories. We used to tell to our children “don´t fill up on snacks” before lunch or dinner. However, consumption of snacks has become increasingly common and is no longer between meals, is the food!.
Certainly, the culture of food is in constant motion (and who said for the better?) adapting to new lifestyles (cooking less, spend more time away from home) and in this new attitude there is room enough for more varieties of products that are easy to eat, with no-needed or very little preparation needed and a size easy to take away.According to Nielsen, the nowadays picture in Spain is that 45% of consumers regularly eat a snack as an alternative to one or more meals daily. Out of this value, 52 % do it for breakfast, 43 % on luch time and 40 % at dinner moment.
But consumes become more aware of nutritional values and claim for snacks to be healthy (or make us feel less guilty of eating out of the three-meals patron …) and to provide some health benefit. This is driving the food industry to spread the wings of innovation and create all kind of products rich in nutrients (proteins, vitamins, minerals, etc), fresh (or minimally processed, but packaged and ready to use), products high-density, low-glycemic index, low sugar, salt and fat among others. Here is a small sample of what is already in the market and what is coming soon:
Cereals, pulses, vegetables and fruits. The healthy snack category
The perception of the snack as something unhealthy and loaded with calories fades with launched products to cover this category. We found a wide variety of dehydrated fruits and vegetables (whether or not coated and with more or less sugar content), cereals of all shapes and colors, but mostly whole grains, either alone or mixed with goji berries, berries or dry fruits. Very present, the so-called “ancient grains” (chia, sorghum, quinoa, millet ..) cooked and ready to eat in bars or expanded products. Probiotics have migrated and are no longer in yogurt .
Now they are provided by fermented vegetable, or cereals, proteins, rice and chia with probiotic cultures. There is also a great tendency to germination process: cereal flour and sprouted legumes that are attributed interesting nutritional properties and are considered more easily digestible. And undoubtedly coming hard, combinations of cereals and vegetables or fruits and vegetables that add flavor, color and above all … nutrients, especially vitamins A, C E and D.
Dehydrated fruit and vegetable snacks
Pulses (white bean and pinto beans and lentils) and germinated cereals snacks
Fruit smoothies
Proteins: the meat snacks
Considering meat and fish as a protein source, different types of snacks and even innovation formats for consumption processed meat products are arising. Some examples are shavings of ham or corned beef, the so-called jerkies (dehydrated or marinated meat), seasoned with all kinds of spices and aromas.
Seasoned jerkies
And coming to snack market: meat sticks or bars. High protein content, veal, lamb, pork, bison… or insects.
Beef and vegetable and insect flour bars
Beef, chicken, pig, turkey, salmon or…bison bars
One size cured meat product
The dairy snack market
The dairy snack development is mainly focused on children. Thus, we find a wide variety of packaging formats such pouch or bag to take away. Healthy solutions for children through the development of dairy sticks (e.g. with the calcium content equivalent to a glass of milk, rich in protein and low in calories) but above all, innovation in the packaging presentation: single dose or ready for consumption, mainly at school break or at the playground time.
Small formats for cheese
It is very clear that the snack development offers great opportunities and there are many companies who see in the snackificationan opportunity to develop a palatable, healthy and ready to eat between meals or as a meal. Of course, according to the consumer criteria of what they percive as healthy, sustainable and what they are willing to pay for it. Of course, a reflection exercise must be done by the food industry to combine all these keys and consider that innovation happens largely by new or unusually ingredients and new production processes or technologies.
Extrusion technology allows to improve the nutricional, sensorial and fuctional properties of food. Find out what we are doing in CARTIF with pulses, in the International Year of Pulses, in this videoblog of our colleague Belén Blanco.
