Flavonoids can improve product flavor.

Adding heart-healthy flavonoids during the processing of foods can produce tastier products, such as an ultrapasteurized milk that does not have a cooked or scalded flavor. Increased consumption of flavonoids, which exist naturally in plant foods, has been associated with a reduced risk for cardiovascular disease. However, flavonoids are often removed when a product is processed because they are bitter.

Research undertaken at Pennsylvania State University shows that the presence of flavonoids at heart-healthy levels does not automatically increase bitterness but can actually promote good flavor development and palatability in some products. The research shows that in food and beverage products heated for safety or preservation purposes, flavonoids can limit the generation of off-flavors, such as the scalded or cooked taste of ultrapasteurized milk.

The scientists also found that it may be possible to enhance some good flavor pathways while limiting others, including less desirable aromas, by adding flavonoids. The investigators added three different levels of epicatechin, a flavonoid typically found in fresh fruits, vegetables, tea and chocolate, to whole milk and then ultrapasteurized it.

Tests with a trained panel of sensory analysts found that all samples containing the flavonoid were significantly lower in cooked flavor, and one was indistinguishable from regular pasteurized milk, which has no cooked flavor at all. Experiments with a granola bar mix to which epicatechin had been added showed that the flavonoid inhibited the formation of some flavor constituents produced in browning, including a powerful flavor-off flavor regulator. Nevertheless, taste testers did not detect an increased level of bitterness in the epicatechin-enriched granola bar compared with the control.

In other experiments, the ability of epicatechin to affect flavor was demonstrated when researchers added the flavonoid to unroasted cocoa and then processed the product with heat. The flavonoid reduced by half the production of the two major flavor constituents. Adding flavonoids to foods at efficacious levels does not have to result in increased bitterness and consumer rejection.

By understanding how health-promoting flavonoids alter flavor generation, scientists can learn how to produce healthier foods that taste good too. The university has filed a provisional patent application on a process for improving flavors that involves adding flavonoids to products. Certain aspects of the technology are available for licensing.

Further information. Devin Peterson, Department of Food Science, Pennsylvania State University, 215 Borland Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802; phone: [phone]; email: [e-mail]. Licensing: Matthew Smith, Senior Technology Licensing Officer, Intellectual Property Office, Pennsylvania State University, 113 Technology Center, University Park, PA 16802; phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]; email: [e-mail].