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Development of Functional Spaghetti Enriched with Long Chain Omega-3 Fatty Acids

¹DISTAAM, Università del Molise, Via De Sanctis snc, 86100-Campobasso, Italy. ²Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti, Università di Bologna, Via Fanin 40, 40127-Bologna, Italy. ³Molise Innovazione Scientific and Technological Park, Via De Sanctis snc, 86100-Campobasso, Italy. ⁴Corresponding author. Phone: +39 0874 404616. Fax: +39 0874 404652. E-mail: marconi@unimol.it

Results concerning the production of spaghetti enriched in long chain (LC) n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and, in particular, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA) are reported. Pasta enrichment was obtained by adding different amounts of integrator (0.6, 1.2, and 1.8%) containing EPA (C20:5 n-3) and DHA (C22:6 n-3) in a microencapsulated form to commercial semolina. The addition of 1.2% integrator yielded spaghetti that provides ≈20% of the recommended daily intake of LC n-3 PUFA with high sensorial acceptability and low loss of LC n-3 PUFA after cooking (<10%). Thus, spaghetti fortified with EPA+DHA could be used to increase consumption of LC n-3 PUFA and to decrease the dietary n-6/n-3 ratio.