Optimising a stevia mix by mixture design and napping: A case study with high protein plain yoghurt
Introduction
Yoghurt is a very popular product consumed in several countries, regardless of their human development index (Cruz et al., 2013; Hoppert et al., 2013; Huertas, 2012). From a nutritional perspective, yoghurt is widely perceived as a healthy food as it contains several proteins, riboflavin, vitamins B6 and B12, and calcium (O'Sullivan et al., 2016). Despite the healthy components of yoghurt, one must consider that traditional formulations of this product still employ sucrose, whose excessive consumption is linked to several health disorders (Imamura et al., 2015; Lustig, Schimidt, & Brindis, 2012).
Recent work in the literature has aimed at developing new yoghurt formulations without sucrose or with a reduced amount of sucrose (McCain, Kaliappan, & Drake, 2018). The most prominent strategies for reducing the sucrose content in yoghurt are ultrafiltration (Karam, Gaiani, Hosri, Burgain, & Scher, 2013), lactose hydrolysis (Whalen, Gilmore, Spurgeon, & Parsons, 1988), the partial reduction of sucrose (Chollet, Gille, Schmid, Walther, & Piccinali, 2013), and the replacement of sucrose by sweeteners (Drake, Gerard, & Chen, 2001; Pinheiro, Oliveira, Penna & Tamine, 2005; Reis et al., 2011).
Sweeteners are substances with a very intense sweet taste and are used in small amounts to replace the sweetness of a much larger amount of sucrose. Several sweeteners are available on the market, such as aspartame, acesulfame-k, neotame, cyclamate, alitame, among others. One of the most proeminent and important sweeteners, as an alternative to sucrose in food products, is sucralose (Chattopadhyay, Raychaudhuri, & Chakraborty, 2014). Sucralose is an artificial sweetener derived from sucrose (Binns, 2003; Chattopadhyay et al., 2014) with a similar sensory profile, possessing low levels of acidity and bitterness, and a sweetness intensity approximately 600 times greater than that of sucrose (Greenly, 2003; Shankar, Ahuja, & Sriram, 2013).
Despite this, sucralose is being replaced by natural sweeteners, following a healthiness-based market tendency (Hung, de Kok, & Verbeke, 2016; Saba et al., 2019; Shangguan et al., 2019), as consumers are seeking more natural and healthier products (Khan, 2015; Philippe, De Mey, Anderson, & Ajikumar, 2014) with low sucrose content (Vidigal et al., 2015). Natural sweeteners add value in terms of healthiness by reducing calories and using ingredients obtained from natural sources.
Stevias are natural sweeteners that can be used as alternatives to sucrose. They have low caloric content and a sweetness intensity approximately 300 times greater than that of sucrose (Barroso et al., 2016; Lemus-Mondaca, Vega-Gálvez, Zura-Bravo, & Ah-Hen, 2012; Philippe et al., 2014). Different stevias available in the market contain differences in the content of steviol glycosides (Narayanan, Chinnasamy, Jin, & Clark, 2014), and sweetness potency is directly proportional to their concentration (Gasmalla, Yang, & Hua, 2014; Pawar, Krynitsky, & Rader, 2013; Philippe et al., 2014). Hence, the use of stevias as a mix is a way of overcoming the limitations of each stevia separately, while also improving the taste and stability of the final product (Reis et al., 2011). Thus, each stevia has different characteristics and market values, and a product with high sensorial quality and with a good cost-benefit relationship could be developed by combining different types of stevia.
Numerous studies, especially those in the field of sensory science, have indicated the benefit of maximising the value achieved using time and resources, thus necessitating the application of efficient techniques for the development of new products (Dooley, Threlfall, & Meullenet, 2012; Rocha et al., 2020; Souza et al., 2012; Yang, Lu, & Hu, 2014). Optimisation methods are very important in sensory science because they are able to determine optimal levels of components or ingredients in a formulation (Cornell, 2011), allowing for the development of new formulas and thus guiding development of new products (Dooley et al., 2012).
In addition to optimisation techniques, there has been an increasing demand in recent years for alternatives to existing descriptive sensory analysis techniques (Vidal et al., 2014). It is important to emphasise the need for more economical, less time-consuming descriptive methods that can be performed with untrained panellists while maintaining the robustness of the information obtained (Fleming, Ziegler, & Hayes, 2015; Reinbach, Giacalone, Ribeiro, Bredie, & Frøst, 2014).
This study formulates an optimised mix of stevias for a high protein plain yoghurt. This mix was computed using three techniques. The first is the mixture design (Akonor et al., 2017; Baugreet, Kerry, Allen, & Hamill, 2017; Ekpong, Ngarmsak, & Winger, 2006; Santos, Fratelli, Muniz, & Capriles, 2018; Souza et al., 2012), which is a simple and efficient technique to determine the ideal formulation of food products. The second is the Napping® (Pagès, 2003, 2005), which is a fast and economic descriptive sensory test, able to quantify and qualify differences and similarities among products. The last is response surface methodology (Monaco, Miele, Cavella, & Masi, 2010), which is employed to compute the optimised mix of stevias. It is a graph that shows the interactions among the different components of a formulation and their resulting sensory response (Souza et al., 2012; Wai, Alkarkhi, & Easa, 2009), taking into account the market cost of each stevia and the similarity in the sensorial perception regarding standard high protein plain yoghurt samples sweetened with sucrose and sucralose.
Hence, the objective of this study is to optimise a mix of different stevias for a high protein plain yoghurt using the mixture design model with the Napping® and response surface methodology. The optimised formulation is validated using temporal dominance of sensations (TDS) analysis and consumer acceptance tests.
Section snippets
Materials
This study used a commercial high protein plain yoghurt from Verde Campo brand (Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil). The yoghurt had no added sucrose and contained per 100 g: 6.6 g carbohydrates (3.3 g glucose, 3.3 g galactose, 0 g lactose), 5.7 g protein (60% whey protein, 40% casein), 0 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 g total fat, 0 g fibre, 58 mg sodium, 109 mg calcium. This study also used sucrose (União®, Camil Alimentos, Itaqui, Brazil), sucralose (New Trend®, Newtrend Food Ingredient,
Determination of ideal sweetness
According to the consumers' evaluation of the ideal sweetness, significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were observed among yoghurt samples with different sucrose concentrations. A linear regression model was fitted to relate ideal sweetness to the sucrose content in the yoghurt. The best fit to the regression data was found with a linear model (Y = 0.2094X + 3.9301), with a coefficient of determination equal to 0.88 (Fig. 2).
As seen in Fig. 2 and the linear equation, when the mean score for the
Conclusion
It is concluded that the mix of stevias composed of 55% stevia 1, 5% stevia 2, and 40% stevia 3 presented sensory characteristics similar to those of sucrose and sucralose in the yoghurts and had the lowest mixture development cost. The mix of stevias obtained by optimisation is a potential substitute for sucrose and sucralose in high protein plain yoghurt since its sensory profile was very similar, presenting a dominant sweet flavour and the absence of an undesirable residual taste, in
Acknowledgements
This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001, the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - Brasil (CNPq), and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa de Minas Gerais - Brasil (FAPEMIG). Besides, we also thank Verde Campo for providing the yoghurt.
References (65)
- et al.
Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni cultivated in Portugal: A prospective study of its antioxidant potential in different conservation conditions
Industrial Crops and Products
(2016) - et al.
Optimisation of protein-fortified beef patties targeted to the needs of older adults: A mixture design approach
Meat Science
(2017) - et al.
Sensory profile and physicochemical characteristics of mango nectar sweetened with high intensity sweeteners throughout storage time
Food Research International
(2013) - et al.
Acceptance of sugar reduction in flavored yogurt
Journal of Dairy Science
(2013) - et al.
Consumer perception of probiotic yogurt: Performance of check all that apply (CATA), projective mapping, sorting and intensity scale
Food Research International
(2013) - et al.
Optimization of blended wine quality through maximization of consumer liking
Food Quality and Preference
(2012) - et al.
Comparing sensory methods for the optimisation of mango gel snacks
Food Quality and Preference
(2006) - et al.
Check-all-that-apply (CATA), sorting, and polarized sensory positioning (PSP) with astringent stimuli
Food Quality and Preference
(2015) - et al.
Effects of sugar substitution with stevia, actilight™ and stevia combinations or palatinose™ on rheological and sensory characteristics of low-fat and whole milk set yoghurt
International Dairy Journal
(2011) - et al.
Consumer acceptance of regular and reduced-sugar yogurt enriched with different types of dietary fiber
International Dairy Journal
(2013)
Consumer attitude and purchase intention towards processed meat products with natural compounds and a reduced level of nitrite
Meat Science
Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, source of a high-potency natural sweetener: A comprehensive review on the biochemical, nutritional and functional aspects
Food Chemistry
Invited review: Sugar reduction in dairy products
Journal of Dairy Science
Use of just-about-right scales and penalty analysis to determine appropriate concentrations of stevia sweeteners for vanilla yogurt
Journal of Dairy Science
Seaweed extracts as potential functional ingredients in yogurt
Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies
Collection and analysis of perceived product inter-distances using multiple factor analysis: Application to the study of 10 white wines from the loire valley
Food Quality and Preference
Biotechnological production of natural zero-calorie sweeteners
Current Opinion in Biotechnology
Temporal dominance of sensations: Construction of the tds curves and comparison with time–intensity
Food Quality and Preference
Comparison of three sensory profiling methods based on consumer perception: CATA, CATA with intensity and Napping®
Food Quality and Preference
Miracle fruit: An alternative sugar substitute in sour beverages
Appetite
Temporal dominance of sensations (TDS) panel behavior: A preliminary study with chocolate
Food Quality and Preference
Measuring consumers attitudes towards health and taste and their association with food-related life-styles and preferences
Food Quality and Preference
How much sugar do consumers add to plain yogurts? Insights from a study examining French consumer behavior and self-reported habits
Appetite
A meta-analysis of food labeling effects on consumer diet behaviors and industry practices
American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Non-nutritive sweeteners: Review and update
Nutrition
Stability of sample configurations from projective mapping: How many consumers are necessary?
Food Quality and Preference
Food technology neophobia and consumer attitudes toward foods produced by new and conventional technologies: A case study in Brazil
LWT-Food Science and Technology
Designing consumer trials balanced for first and higher orders of carry-over effect when only a subset of k samples from t may be tested
Food Quality and Preference
Yogurt manufactured from whey-caseinate blends and hydrolyzed lactose
Journal of Dairy Science
Sensory optimization of crackers developed from high-quality cassava flour, starch, and prawn powder
Food Sciences and Nutrition
Sucralose–all sweetness and light
Nutrition Bulletin
Centering and scaling in component analysis
Journal of Chemometrics
Cited by (12)
Update on emerging sensory methodologies applied to investigating dairy products
2024, Current Opinion in Food ScienceSensory temporality of sweeteners in aqueous solution and in yogurt
2024, Journal of Food Measurement and CharacterizationMulti-attribute temporal descriptive methods in sensory analysis applied in food science: A systematic scoping review
2024, Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food SafetyStevia (Stevia rebaudiana) as a common sugar substitute and its application in food matrices: an updated review
2023, Journal of Food Science and TechnologyApplication of multivariate statistical analysis and machine learning to sensory data analysis
2023, Sensory Profiling of Dairy ProductsExploring Plant Tissue Culture and Steviol Glycosides Production in Stevia rebaudiana (Bert.) Bertoni: A Review
2023, Agriculture (Switzerland)