Quizhpe Jhazmin, Ayuso Pablo, Yepes Fani, Miranzo Domingo, Avellaneda Antonio, Nieto Gema, Ros Gaspar
Department of Food Technology, Nutrition and Food Science, Veterinary Faculty, University of Murcia, Regional Campus of International Excellence "Campus Mare Nostrum", Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
Cátedra de Seguridad y Sostenibilidad Alimentaria Grupo Fuertes, Universidad de Murcia, 30003 Murcia, Spain.
Nutrients. 2025 May 8;17(10):1616. doi: 10.3390/nu17101616.
Consumers are increasingly interested in healthier, less processed food products, driving the meat industry to improve the quality and health benefits of its offerings. Growing concerns about additives and allergens have encouraged the replacement of these ingredients with natural alternatives, presenting both challenges and opportunities. However, consumer rejection of additives and the actual health effects of their replacement remain poorly understood. In previous work, two new meat products-cooked turkey breast and cooked ham-were developed, where additives and allergens were replaced with natural extracts. These products demonstrated potential health benefits in vitro, including improvements in protein quality and microbiota composition.
This study assessed consumer perceptions of additives through a survey and evaluated the two new meat products in a double-blind, randomized clinical trial conducted over a 5-week period. Biomarkers of interest were measured in blood, faeces, and urine samples at baseline and at the end of this study. Additionally, a separate study tested the satiating effect of these products using VAS score surveys.
The additive perception survey revealed that consumers associate additive-free products with being more natural and less harmful to health, with differences observed based on age, gender, and knowledge of additives. In the clinical trial, both the intervention and control groups showed significant decreases in serum levels of ox-LDL and GPx, with no differences between the groups. However, significant differences between the groups were found in inflammation markers TNF-α and IL-1β. Furthermore, the intervention group exhibited a significant reduction in nitrate excretion and a decrease in nitrification-related gut bacteria. Finally, the reformulated products demonstrated a satiating effect, reducing hunger.
These findings suggest that the new additive- and allergen-free reformulated meat products may offer potential oxidative and anti-inflammatory benefits to consumers.
消费者对更健康、加工更少的食品越来越感兴趣，这促使肉类行业提高其产品的质量和健康益处。对添加剂和过敏原的日益关注促使人们用天然替代品取代这些成分，这既带来了挑战，也带来了机遇。然而，消费者对添加剂的排斥以及其替代品的实际健康影响仍知之甚少。在之前的工作中，开发了两种新的肉类产品——熟火鸡胸肉和熟火腿，其中添加剂和过敏原被天然提取物所取代。这些产品在体外显示出潜在的健康益处，包括蛋白质质量和微生物群组成的改善。
本研究通过一项调查评估了消费者对添加剂的看法，并在一项为期5周的双盲随机临床试验中对这两种新的肉类产品进行了评估。在基线和本研究结束时，对血液、粪便和尿液样本中的相关生物标志物进行了测量。此外，另一项研究使用视觉模拟评分（VAS）调查测试了这些产品的饱腹感效果。
添加剂认知调查显示，消费者将无添加剂产品与更天然、对健康危害更小联系起来，且根据年龄、性别和添加剂知识存在差异。在临床试验中，干预组和对照组的血清氧化型低密度脂蛋白（ox-LDL）和谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GPx）水平均显著下降，两组之间无差异。然而，在炎症标志物肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）和白细胞介素-1β（IL-1β）方面发现了两组之间的显著差异。此外，干预组的硝酸盐排泄显著减少，与硝化作用相关的肠道细菌数量减少。最后，重新配方的产品显示出饱腹感效果，减轻了饥饿感。
这些发现表明，新的无添加剂和无过敏原的重新配方肉类产品可能为消费者提供潜在的抗氧化和抗炎益处。
