DEVELOPMENT OF FUNCTIONAL ICE CREAM WITH SUGAR AND FAT REDUCTION

Ice cream is very consumed by people of all ages in various places in the world. However, it is considered a product with high amounts of fats and sugar, which can be linked to diseases like obesity and overweight, being convenient to use alternatives that promote reduction and/or substitution of fat and sugar content. We aimed to develop functional ice cream formulations with reduction of fat and sugar content, added with Spirulina platensis, phycocyanin (aquous extract of Spirulina) and inulin. These ingredients have the potential of emulsifying activity, texture and sugar substitute and fat, being important to evaluate the impact in the sensory properties of ice creams. Phycocyanin extracts presented characteristics of emulsifying activity above 45 Units of emulsification and emulsion stability near to 95% after 48 h and even when the extract was previously submitted to heating at 100ºC before the test. Twelve formulations of ice cream were formulated, including addition of inulin (1 to 2%), Spirulina and phycocyanin extract to replace fat (50% less) and sugar (25% less), emulsificants and stabilizants in the ice cream. The ice cream formulations were physico-chemically characterized and submitted to the sensory evaluation of acceptability and sensory attributes through the CATA (Check All That Apply) methodology. Overrun and texture analyzes showed that formulations produced with phycocyanin extract have a softer texture, consequently higher overrun values.The sensorial analysis showed that the ice cream formulations had good acceptability, presenting scores between 6 and 9 in the acceptability test. Results of CATA demonstrated that the addition of Spirulina or phycocyanin extract, even altering the color of ice cream formulations, did not negatively affect consumers in terms of of taste and aroma. The addition of Spirulina (1%) and inulin (2%) proved to be an applicable alternative and making ice cream a functional product.