PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Eating low-fat, thanks to lupin proteins

Eating low-fat, thanks to lupin proteins
2011-01-04
(Press-News.org) In emerging countries such as China or Brazil, meat consumption is rising dramatically. Indeed, worldwide consumption of red meat has quadrupled since 1961. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) expects increasing prosperity to lead to a doubling of global meat production by the year 2050. The question is whether our planet, with its limited farmland resources, will still be able to meet all of our needs into the future. Possible solutions for the brewing dilemma are familiar to Dr.-Ing. Peter Eisner of the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV in Freising, Germany.

It takes a lot of land to produce meat. "Producing a kilogram of meat consumes between seven and 16 kilograms of grain or soybeans as animal feed," Eisner reports. "As a result, in the US around 80 percent of grain is fed to livestock." Compared to meat production, the cultivation of plants as a food source is considerably less land-intensive. It takes 40 square meters to produce a kilogram of meat, yet that same space could produce 120 kilograms of carrots or 80 kilograms of apples instead. As the researcher points out: "Plants are a source of high-quality foodstuffs, but they can also provide raw materials for technological applications – and are a source of energy." He demonstrates this in the case of sunflower seeds: up until now, they were used for oil production, their residues serving as low-grade livestock feed. As a result, a 2 ½ -acre parcel of land could be expected to yield around 950 euros. If all of the components were processed and converted to high-quality raw materials for the food, cosmetics and fuel industry, that same parcel would generate some 1770 euros in income.

Plant-based food ingredients can be expected to play a particularly important role as a substitute for raw materials derived from animals. Eisner presented a "milk substitute" made from lupin proteins and suitable as a basis for foods such as ice cream or cheese. It contains no lactose, has a neutral flavor, is cholesterol-free and rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Lupin seeds are also the basic ingredient in a new vegetable protein isolate with fat-like properties that has been developed by IVV researcher Daniela Sussmann. A special production method applied to the lupin seed yields a highly viscous protein suspension with a very creamy consistency. "The microscopic structure of this product resembles that of the fat particles in sausage meat. So you can use it to produce low-fat sausage products that taste just as good as the original," the researcher added. In sensory tests she investigated whether adding lupin protein could improve the juicy and creamy impression of a low-fat sausage recipe. With success: "By adding 10 percent protein isolate, we were able to markedly improve the fat-like impression of low-fat liverwurst."

Since sausage products are among the foods with the highest levels of fat, this would certainly be a step in the right direction. On average, a German eats 31 kilograms of sausage products each year. The result: An overweight population and cardiovascular disease. If some of the fat could be replaced with proteins derived from plants, every one would benefit: the consumer by eating less fat, the farmer through higher in come, and the environment because plants can be produced more sustainably than meat.



INFORMATION:


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Eating low-fat, thanks to lupin proteins

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Impregnating plastics with carbon dioxide

Impregnating plastics with carbon dioxide
2011-01-04
CO2 is more than just a waste product. In fact, it has a variety of uses: the chemical industry makes use of this colorless gas to produce urea, methanol and salicylic acid. Urea is a fertilizer, methanol is a fuel additive, and salicylic acid is an ingredient in aspirin. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT in Oberhausen are pursuing a new idea by testing how carbon dioxide can be used to impregnate plastics. At a temperature of 30.1 degrees Celsius and a pressure of 73.8 bar, CO2 goes into a supercritical state ...

A toast to history: 500 years of wine-drinking cups mark social shifts in ancient Greece

A toast to history: 500 years of wine-drinking cups mark social shifts in ancient Greece
2011-01-04
VIDEO: University of Cincinnati researcher Kathleen Lynch, associate professor of classics, examines a time line of wine-drinking cups in ancient Athens. Changes in these cups, which were used in symposia (think... Click here for more information. How commonly used items – like wine drinking cups – change through time can tell us a lot about those times, according to University of Cincinnati research to be presented Jan. 7 by Kathleen Lynch, UC associate professor of classics, ...

Hair color of unknown offenders is no longer a secret

2011-01-04
The hair color of an unknown perpetrator who has committed a crime will soon no longer be a secret for forensic investigators. Erasmus MC scientists, in collaboration with their Polish colleagues, have discovered that DNA can be used to predict people's probable hair color. Their findings¹ will be published today in the Springer journal Human Genetics. The research findings demonstrate that on the basis of DNA information it is possible to determine with an accuracy of more than 90 percent whether a person has red hair, with a similarly high accuracy whether a person ...

The ecosystem engineer: Research looks at beavers' role in river restoration

2011-01-04
MANHATTAN, KAN. -- When engineers restore rivers, one Kansas State University professor hopes they'll keep a smaller engineer in mind: the North American beaver. Beavers are often called ecosystem engineers because they can radically alter stream or valley bottom ecosystems, said Melinda Daniels, an associate professor of geography who recently studied the connection between beavers and river restoration. Beaver dams create diverse river landscapes, she said, and can turn a single-thread channel stream into a meadow, pond or multichannel, free-flowing stream. "Our argument ...

Use of amniotic membrane may cause complications in strabismus surgery

2011-01-04
Philadelphia, PA, January 3, 2011 – Postoperative adhesions are a major complication in strabismus surgery. Amniotic membrane has been used in the hopes of preventing these adhesions by forming a biological barrier during healing. In an article in the December 2010 issue of the Journal of AAPOS, the Official Publication of the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, a team of researchers from Cairo University have discovered that the new approach may also have the opposite effect. Dr. Rehab Kassem and coauthors describe how they wrapped the extraocular ...

FSU researchers helping electric-wheelchair users move more easily

FSU researchers helping electric-wheelchair users move more easily
2011-01-04
Thick gravel, mud, snow, steep ramps or hills . . . They might get a pedestrian a little dirty or out of breath, but to someone in an electric wheelchair, they could mean terrain that's simply too difficult to cross alone. To address this problem, researchers at the Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering are working on technology that will enable electric-powered wheelchairs to detect hazardous terrain and automatically adjust their control settings to maneuver more safely. Emmanuel Collins is the John H. Seely Professor of Mechanical ...

Peptide delivers 1-2 punch to breast cancer in pre-clinical study

2011-01-04
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (WFUBMC) have discovered what may become a new weapon in the fight against breast cancer. For the first time, a peptide found in blood and tissue has been shown to inhibit the growth of human breast tumors in mice, according to a study recently published in the journal Cancer Research. Patricia E. Gallagher, Ph.D., and E. Ann Tallant, Ph.D., scientists in the Hypertension and Vascular Research Center at WFUBMC, demonstrated that the peptide angiotensin-(1-7) attacked breast cancer in two ...

Researchers measure quality of care in oral anticoagulation

2011-01-04
(Boston) - Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the Bedford VA Medical Center believe that risk-adjusted percent time in therapeutic range (TTR) should be used as part of an effort to improve anticoagulation control and thus improve patient outcomes. These findings appear in this month's issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Oral anticoagulation with warfarin is received by millions of Americans each year to treat blood clots and to prevent strokes. While warfarin is effective, it is difficult to thin a patient's blood ...

New research reveals unexpected biological pathway in glaucoma

2011-01-04
(Baltimore, MD) — In a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Early Edition ahead of print), a team of researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and four collaborating institutions, identified a new and unexpected biological pathway that appears to contribute to the development of glaucoma and its resulting vision loss. Prior research has suggested that the optic nerve head, the point where the cables that carry information from the eye to the brain first exit the eye, plays a role in glaucoma. In this study, researchers report ...

Wastewater treatment lowers pathogen levels

2011-01-04
Madison, WI DECEMBER 30, 2010 – A recent study by a team of researchers at the University of Arizona has tracked the incident of pathogens in biosolids over a 19 year period in one major U.S. city. In the same study, the researchers also analyzed pathogen levels in biosolids at 18 wastewater treatment plants in the United States. Their analysis indicates pathogens levels have dropped since the implementation of federal regulations on treating sewage in 1993. These treatment guidelines have proven to be extremely effective with 94% to 99% of all pathogens in biosolids ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Study unexpectedly finds living in rural, rather than urban environments in first five years of life could be a risk factor for developing type 1 diabetes

Editorial urges deeper focus on heart-lung interactions in pulmonary vascular disease

Five University of Tennessee faculty receive Fulbright Awards

5 advances to protect water sources, availability

OU Scholar awarded Fulbright for Soviet cinema research

Brain might become target of new type 1 diabetes treatments

‘Shore Wars:’ New research aims to resolve coastal conflict between oysters and mangroves, aiding restoration efforts

Why do symptoms linger in some people after an infection? A conversation on post-acute infection syndromes

Study reveals hidden drivers of asthma flare-ups in children

Physicists decode mysterious membrane behavior

New insights about brain receptor may pave way for next-gen mental health drugs

Melanoma ‘sat-nav’ discovery could help curb metastasis

When immune commanders misfire: new insights into rheumatoid arthritis inflammation

SFU researchers develop a new tool that brings blender-like lighting control to any photograph

Pups in tow, Yellowstone-area wolves trek long distances to stay near prey

AI breakthrough unlocks 'new' materials to replace lithium-ion batteries

Making molecules make sense: A regional explanation method reveals structure–property relationships

Partisan hostility, not just policy, drives U.S. protests

The Journal of Nuclear Medicine Ahead-of-Print Tip Sheet: August 1, 2025

Young human blood serum factors show potential to rejuvenate skin through bone marrow

Large language models reshape the future of task planning

Narrower coverage of MS drugs tied to higher relapse risk

Researchers harness AI-powered protein design to enhance T-cell based immunotherapies

Smartphone engagement during school hours among US youths

Online reviews of health care facilities

MS may begin far earlier than previously thought

New AI tool learns to read medical images with far less data

Announcing XPRIZE Healthspan as Tier 5 Sponsor of ARDD 2025

Announcing Immortal Dragons as Tier 4 Sponsor of ARDD 2025

Reporting guideline for chatbot health advice studies

[Press-News.org] Eating low-fat, thanks to lupin proteins