Rocchetti Gabriele, Zengin Gokhan, Giuberti Gianluca, Cervini Mariasole, Lucini Luigi
Department of Animal Science, Food and Nutrition, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Via Emilia Parmense 84, 29122 Piacenza, Italy.
Department of Biology, Science Faculty, Selcuk University, Konya 42130, Turkey.
Antioxidants (Basel). 2024 Mar 18;13(3):365. doi: 10.3390/antiox13030365.
Mealworm, migratory locust, and house cricket have recently been recognized by the European Commission as novel foods, thus being suitable in different food applications. In this work, we tested their powders as meat extenders at 5% (/) inclusion in beef burgers, considering their ability to vehicle phenolic compounds during simulated in vitro static gastrointestinal digestion (INFOGEST). Insect powders were abundant in different phenolic classes, recording the highest values in locust (LP; 314.69 mg/kg), followed by cricket (CP; 113.3 mg/kg) and mealworm (MWP; 51.9 mg/kg). Following a pan-cooking process, LP burgers were confirmed as the best source of phenolics, with a marked abundance of flavonoids and phenolic acids. Interestingly, the insect powders were found to affect the in vitro gastrointestinal bioaccessibility of phenolic compounds when compared with the CTR burger, likely promoted by the interactions between the phenolic compounds and proteins characterizing the tested insect powders. Among the most discriminant phenolic metabolites at the gastrointestinal level, we found several phenolic acids (mainly hydroxycinnamics), recording the highest content for the digested CP-containing burgers. Finally, stilbenes showed significant correlation values at the intestinal level with both antioxidant and enzymatic activities, while total flavonoids were the most correlated with the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase. Taken together, our preliminary findings demonstrated that insect powders added to beef burgers can promote the bioaccessibility and potential bioavailability of phenolics in the distal tracts of the intestine.
黄粉虫、飞蝗和家蟋蟀最近被欧盟委员会认定为新型食品，因此适用于不同的食品应用。在这项研究中，我们测试了它们的粉末作为牛肉汉堡中5%（/）的肉类替代品，考虑到它们在体外模拟静态胃肠消化（INFOGEST）过程中运载酚类化合物的能力。昆虫粉末富含不同种类的酚类物质，蝗虫粉（LP；314.69毫克/千克）中的含量最高，其次是蟋蟀粉（CP；113.3毫克/千克）和黄粉虫粉（MWP；51.9毫克/千克）。经过煎制过程后，LP汉堡被确认为酚类物质的最佳来源，含有大量的黄酮类化合物和酚酸。有趣的是，与对照汉堡相比，发现昆虫粉末会影响酚类化合物在体外胃肠道的生物可及性，这可能是由酚类化合物与测试昆虫粉末中特征性蛋白质之间的相互作用所促进的。在胃肠道水平上最具区分性的酚类代谢产物中，我们发现了几种酚酸（主要是羟基肉桂酸），消化后的含CP汉堡中含量最高。最后，芪类化合物在肠道水平上与抗氧化和酶活性均显示出显著的相关性，而总黄酮与乙酰胆碱酯酶的抑制作用相关性最强。综上所述，我们的初步研究结果表明，添加到牛肉汉堡中的昆虫粉末可以促进肠道远端酚类物质的生物可及性和潜在生物利用度。
