title: [Use of nopal dietary fiber in a powder dessert formulation].
abstract: The development of diverse types of foods of low caloric value and with high content in dietary fiber have occupied a preponderant place in the food industry in the last years, due to the growing interest of the consumers for a healthy and nutritious diet. Pre-cooked or quick to prepare foods are attractive for the time they save; if to this you add their nutritious value, the attractiveness is even greater. For this reason, this study analyzes different formulations of a powder to prepare a dessert (flan), with different percentages of incorporation of nopal flour, as a source of dietary fiber (16%, 18%, 20%). Two flavors (melon and banana) were tried. It was observed that the flan flavored with banana and with 16% of nopal flour, reached better sensorial characteristics. Greater percentages of nopal flour negatively affected the sensorial characteristics, mainly flavor, color and texture. The analysis showed that the powder presented 5.7% of moisture, low water activity (0.48) and therefore a low total recount of microorganisms. The content of protein was high (27.2%), the ether extract low (2.0%) similar to the caloric contribution (40 Kcal/portion). The flan showed a 9.8% of total dietary fiber, being greater the contribution of soluble fiber (6.1%) than that of insoluble fiber (3.7%). Due to these characteristics this formulation could be considered as a food that provides benefits for the human health.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Agronómica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sáenz
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sepúlveda
authors.forename: Nelly
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pak
authors.forename: Ximena
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Vallejos
mesh_terms: D002182:Candy / Q000032:analysis; D004043:Dietary Fiber; D005433:Flour; D005504:Food Analysis; D006801:Humans; D009753:Nutritive Value; D029747:Opuntia; D011208:Powders / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004043:Dietary Fiber; D011208:Powders