Substituintes de gordura trans em alimentos processados

Abstract

Scientific evidence related to trans fatty acids is clearly defined as how this material is harmful to human consumption, due to the harm it can cause, world organizations aim to eliminate its use, forcing a major change in the industrial market, bringing discussions to the consumer, mainly in the purchase and consumption of industrialized products, which generated changes in the way food is produced. The food industry seeks to develop formulations with equivalent functionality, replacing trans fats, in a way that does not compromise the health of consumers. The objective of this study was to identify and describe scientific articles, books and monographs, found in the literature, which demonstrated the advances of the industry for the removal of trans fat in its products, the main substitutes used and the difficulties encountered in the reformulation of products. A literature review was carried out in order to gather scientific knowledge, published, preferably, between 2000 and 2022, which addressed issues related to the main trans fat substitutes in processed foods, currently used in the food industry. The results showed that trans fat is no longer a problem for the industry, since at first it was replaced by interesterified vegetable fat and semi-solid vegetable fat obtained by fractionation, but this solution increases the amount of total fat in industrialized products, especially saturated fatty acids. Therefore, the most promising studies in this area of trans fat substitutes are carbohydrates and proteins, since when using them, they offer less risk to the health of consumers and provide a decrease in total fats in industrialized products in order to maintain the technological characteristics. and sensory of the products.