Functional and sensory properties of spaghetti supplemented with supercritical CO2 extracted pumpkin oil encapsulated in ?-cyclodextrins

The recent finding of nutrigenomics and the growing trend towards personalized nutrition encourage research directed towards innovative functional food development [1]. Dry pasta, coming widely and frequently in the Mediterranean diet, is considered an optimal, economic and easy-to-use vehicle for phytochemicals acting as nutrition enhancers or providing specific physiological functions. Pasta, made from refined wheat, lacks many of the nutrients found in whole grains. As such, it has been the object of many supplementation strategies to improve pasta nutritional value and functional attributes. Pumpkin (Cucurbita spp.) fruits and seeds have received considerable attention in recent years because of the nutritional and health benefits of the presence on many lipophylic biologically active compounds, mainly carotenoids, tocochromanols, phytosterols and PUFA [2]. Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) pumpkin extracted oils contain the broad lipophilic phytocomplex of the starting matrix in a highly bioavailable form [3]. Phytocomplex constituents, alone or synergistically, act as antioxidants, vitamins, anti-inflammatory and anticancer agents, as well as in cell signaling and gene expression regulation, playing a pivotal role in building and maintaining our health [4]. The limited stability of the oils over time and/or during food processing and storage is the main drawback for their usage in the formulation of functional products. Most bioactives are, in fact, very reactive to light, oxygen and free radicals and/or susceptible to thermal degradation. Encapsulation into micro or nano particles is the most promising technique to increase oil stability. The feasibility of chlatrating the oil in ?-Cyclodextrin (?-CD) complexes to improve its chemical stability and prepare powders useful as ready-to-mix ingredients for novel functional food formulations was also demonstrated [5]. The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of producing an innovative supplemented durum wheat pasta enriched in the lipophilic phytocomplex extracted by SC-CO2 from ripe pumpkin peponides. The oil was mixed to the dough as free or as ready-to-mix oil/?-CDs powder. Four types of pasta were prepared: (i) control spaghetti (S-CTRL); (ii) spaghetti supplemented with ?-CDs (S-?-CD); (iii) spaghetti supplemented with pumpkin oil (S-Oil) and (iv) spaghetti supplemented with the pumpkin oil/?-CD powder (S-Oil/?-CD). The biochemical, antioxidant, textural and sensory attributes of pasta types were evaluated and compared. The results showed that S-Oil and S-Oil/?-CD spaghetti were significantly enriched in phytosterols, squalene, carotenoids, tocochromanols and unsaturated fatty acids, providing a substantial proportion of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for A and E vitamins, as well as increased lipophilic antioxidant capacity. Furthermore, ?-CD pumpkin oil complexation increased the stability of some of the bioactive components. With regard to the sensory evaluation of the textural properties of cooked pasta, although s-CTRL registered the highest score, all samples resulted acceptable by the panel of experts. Therefore, S-Oil/?-CD pasta is an innovative product potentially appreciated by consumers because of the good balance of functional quality and hedonistic features and could be an answer to the requirement for supplemented products for specific nutritional needs. Keywords: antioxidant activity; bioactive compounds; functional foods; oil encapsulation; supercritical fluid extraction References [1] Ilahy et al. (2018). Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, 37, 15-53. [2] Durante et al. (2014a). International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 15, 6725-6740. [3] Durante et al. (2014b). Food chemistry, 148, 314-320. [4] Bruno et al. (2018). Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 65, 23-32. [5] Durante et al. (2016) Food Chemistry, 199, 684-693.