A knowledge-base for processed food reformulation to tackle obesity

This thesis reports on the research investigating how the food industry can create a healthier food environment to tackle the increasing rise of obesity. The principle objective of this research is to develop a structure for a knowledge-base on food reformulation that is targeted to help the food industry in making informed decisions while reformulating their products. The research in this thesis describes the design of the knowledge-base that presents and assesses scientific data extracted from articles on fat and/or sugar reduction, and illustrates the usefulness of this knowledge-base through a working example and a validation study on muffin reformulation.

The research contributions are divided into three major parts. The first part contains a review on obesity, its implications, the complex interdependent factors that cause obesity, and the role of the diet as a major risk factor of obesity. This part also highlights the status of the food environment that mostly offers unhealthy foods, and addresses some efforts that are in place to help improve the quality of these offerings focusing on reformulation. Reformulation through the reduction of fat and sugar from different food products is discussed, addressing the effects of reformulation on major sensory and quality properties. Through this review, weaknesses in reformulation study designs were recognised, and a gap was identified, which was the lack of a valid and accessible source that presents and assesses reformulation techniques that are currently scattered in the scientific literature.

The second part of the research details the structure of the knowledge-base on holistic food reformulation. The knowledge-base is structured of two sections: (1) ‘Overview Analyses’ that assesses the significance of reformulating a certain product and presents different methods that investigated its reformulation and (2) ‘Analysis of an Individual Study’ that presents and evaluates the reformulation process of individual studies through assessing the qualitative and quantitative parameters of the reformulated product. The second section is supported with a decision support flowchart that evaluates the applicability of reformulation from an industrial perspective.

Finally, the third part of the research demonstrates the applicability of the knowledgebase principles on a working example of muffin reformulation, and the validity of using its holistic principles in designing and executing reformulation experiments. Data from articles on fat and/or sugar reduction from muffins were extracted and compiled into the two sections of the knowledge-base, and a study on holistic reformulation was carried out using different laboratory facilities around Loughborough University‘s campus. The latter study investigated the industrial applicability of reducing sugar and/or fat from muffins using inulin and green banana flour by assessing the effect of this reformulation on muffins’ quality, sensory and nutritional properties and industrial processability.

In summary, the research suggested that this knowledge-base could be a significant tool that systematically simplifies reformulation and leads industrial units to produce healthier food products. The knowledge-base would also help food scientists design experiments that provide holistic information on reformulation that are useful for industrial implementation.