Publications by authors named "Johannes Burkard"
Article Synopsis
- Chocolate production is facing issues related to nutrition, the environment, and socio-economics, primarily due to the conventional cocoa value chain.
- A new approach was developed that utilizes discarded cocoa pod endocarp to create a gel, replacing traditional sugar with cocoa pulp juice, resulting in healthier chocolate with up to 20% gel content that maintains a sweet taste.
- This innovative chocolate formulation not only has improved nutritional benefits but also demonstrates potential for reduced land use and lower global warming impact, while providing economic advantages for farmers in cocoa-producing areas.
In view of the health concerns associated with high sugar intake, this study investigates methods to enhance sweetness perception in chocolate without increasing its sugar content. Using additive manufacturing, chocolate structures were created from masses with varying sugar and fat compositions, where hazelnut oil served as a partial cocoa butter replacement. The study found that while variations in sugar content minimally affected the physical properties of the chocolate masses, hazelnut oil significantly modified melting behavior and consumption time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdditive manufacturing (AM) is creating new possibilities for innovative tailoring of food properties through multiscale structuring. This research investigated a high-speed inkjet-based technique aimed to modify sweetness perception by creating dot patterns on chocolate surfaces. The dots were formulated from cocoa butter with emulsified water droplets containing the sweetener thaumatin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Studies suggest that changing how enterocytes (intestinal cells) metabolize fats can influence overall glucose balance and obesity risk.
- Researchers tested mice with a modified gene that enhances fat oxidation in enterocytes, comparing those on a low-fat diet to a high-fat diet.
- Mice with enhanced fat oxidation showed better blood sugar control on a high-fat diet despite both groups gaining weight, indicating that modifying enterocyte metabolism can improve glycemic control independent of body weight but is affected by dietary fat content.