Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Surface coated – fluid encapsulated – laminated solid... – Isolated whole seed – bean or nut – or material derived therefrom
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-14
2002-02-12
Paden, Carolyn (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Surface coated, fluid encapsulated, laminated solid...
Isolated whole seed, bean or nut, or material derived therefrom
C426S093000, C426S094000, C426S549000, C426S550000, C426S633000, C426S588000, C426S002000, C426S810000, C424S439000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06346284
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to energy-rich foods of low osmolality containing at most 10% of their weight of water. This invention makes it possible to prepare foods supplying all the nutriments and, in particular, the minerals and all the vitamins necessary for the renourishment of undernourished patients, and can therefore be used as a complete food for these patients. This invention also makes it possible to prepare nutritional supplements for supplying all the nutriments which are present in insufficient amount in diets where cereals make up the essential part of the food intake. These foods are insoluble in water before dispersion by agitation, and do not generate hyperosmolality. They are stable to oxidation. The invention further relates to the process for the preparation of these foods and to their uses.
Severely undernourished patients are usually renourished with powdered foods which are dissolved in water before consumption. These foods are prepared from powdered milk products skimmed milk, whey) mixed with carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and lipids. To boost the energy value of these products, the lipids generally represent more than 30% of the dry weight of these foods. The products most commonly used at the present time, called formulae F75 and F100, have been described by A. BRIEND AND M. H. N. GOLDEN in “Malnutrition sévère de l'enfant” (“Severe malnutrition in children”), Encyclopédie Médico Chirurgicale (Elsevier, Paris), Endocrinologie Nutrition (Endocrinology Nutrition), 10-337-A-10, 1997, page 8. Their name is a reminder that, after dilution, they provide 75 and 100 kcal/100 ml, respectively. However, these powdered products have a number of disadvantages. First of all, there are risks of dosage errors because they are prepared by dilution in water, these risks being eliminated by using preprepared products. Furthermore, dilution in water before consumption can be a factor in bacterial contamination, making the use of these powdered products risky when the hygiene conditions are poor. Moreover, this dissolution in water before consumption results in the preparation of meals which are frequently hyperosmolar when one attempts to increase their energy value. With the conventional powdered renourishment foods, it is difficult to achieve an energy density of very much more than 100 kcal/100 ml after dilution, because of the increase in osmolality, which can rise beyond 400 mOsm/kg. This constitutes a major problem because undernourished subjects do not tolerate foods with an osmolality greater than that of blood plasma (about 290 mOsm/kg), which are likely to cause diarrhea in such subjects. This dilution in water further imposes the use of soluble mineral salts in order to enrich foods of this type, insoluble salts being likely to remain at the bottom of the vessel if not all the diluted food is ingested. These soluble salts have a pronounced taste whereas insoluble salts are insipid. Foods intended for dilution in water therefore have a rather unpleasant taste if they are enriched in minerals. Furthermore, presentation of these foods in powder form increases their contact area with the ambient atmosphere penetrating the powder. This phenomenon exposes these foods to the risk of oxidation during storage, all the more so if they are in the form of a fine powder. This oxidation can affect the lipids, causing the food to turn rancid, and also any oxidation-sensitive vitamins that may be present, particularly vitamin C and vitamin A. If the use-by date of these products is to be more than a few weeks in a tropical climate, it is necessary to coat the lipid part of these products with a protective layer of proteins or carbohydrates and package these products under a chemically inert gas, such as carbon dioxide or nitrogen, in perfectly airtight bags. This constraint considerably increases the price of these renourishment products and limits the possibilities of manufacturing these products in developing countries. Furthermore, these various powdered products are bulky to store and create numerous transportation and handling problems.
Sweetened condensed milk products have the property of a very low water content, so they are resistant to bacterial contamination. However, these milk products cannot be used without prior dilution by undernourished subjects because of their extremely high osmolality. They still have a high osmolality even after dilution. Furthermore, their relative proportions of proteins, lipids and carbohydrates are very different from those of conventional milk products and also very different from formulae of the F100 or F75 type. Undernourished subjects are therefore strongly advised against these products.
It has also been proposed to renourish undernourished subjects with suitable biscuits, which are naturally resistant to bacterial contamination on account of their low water content. However, biscuits cannot easily supply more than 10 to 12% of their weight of lipids for reasons of mechanical strength and storage. In addition, heat-sensitive vitamins are destroyed in the preparation of biscuits, which have to be baked at high temperature.
There is therefore a genuine need for complete foods and nutritional supplements which have a pleasant taste, are stable to oxidation, can be consumed directly without prior dilution in water, are easy to transport, have a high energy value, can contain oxidation-sensitive products such as vitamins, certain mineral salts and certain enzymes, and have a low osmotic strength so as to avoid diarrhea-type side effects in undernourished subjects.
The inventors have developed complete foods and nutritional supplements which possess all these properties.
The present invention therefore relates to a complete food or nutritional supplement which is rich in lipids, contains at most 10%, preferably at most 5% and particularly preferably at most 2% of its weight of water, has a low osmolality and is stable to oxidation, comprising a mixture of food-grade products, said mixture being coated with at least one lipid-rich substance optionally derived partly from oleaginous seeds.
“Lipid-rich food” is understood hereafter as meaning a complete food or nutritional supplement which contains at least 30% of its total weight of lipids.
The products which provide the major part of the proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals contained in the final product are in the form of a fine powder or in the form of particles or granules. These products are mixed together in a first stage. Some products can be in liquid form, but in this case they are present in proportions such that, after mixing, the whole is pulverulent or in the form of particles or granules and such that the water content of the resulting complete food or nutritional supplement is at most 10% by weight, preferably at most 5% by weight and particularly preferably at most 2% by weight.
This first mixture in powder form is then incorporated into a lipid-rich pasty substance which can optionally be derived partly from oleaginous seeds. The final product, namely the complete food or nutritional supplement according to the invention, has a semi-pasty or pasty consistency. The final product is not soluble in water, being a mixture consisting of a pulverulent, granular or particulate phase which is anhydrous or has a very low water content, contained in a viscous lipid phase. This mixture does not therefore develop an appreciable osmotic pressure. The osmolality remains below 100 mOsm/kg when the product is immersed in four times its own weight of water. This property persists for as long as the product is not suspended by agitation.
The consistency of the final product can be chosen according to its use by modifying the fatty acid composition of the lipid phase. The viscosity at 25° C. of this complete food or nutritional supplement can be between 200 and 100, preferably between 180 and 120 and particularly preferably between 160 and 150 poises. This consistency enables the product to be consumed by young children, as a general rule from the age of twelve months. It c
Briend André
Lescanne Michel
Nutriset
Paden Carolyn
Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe
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