Publication
Acorn flours: a novel source of bioactives and nutritional benefits
| dc.contributor.author | Rodrigues, Cristina V. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Maia, Maria Luz | |
| dc.contributor.author | Babo, Pedro | |
| dc.contributor.author | Pintado, Manuela | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-01-30T15:11:58Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-01-30T15:11:58Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Introduction: In Portugal, acorns (Quercus spp.) are highly abundant, being produced around 401,585 tonnes annually. Yet, about 55% remains in fields, leading to the waste of this biomass and promoting potential environmental issues (e.g. soil degradation) (Castro et al., 2022, Zhou and Wang, 2020). This challenge is further exacerbated by the increasing global population, which exerts mounting pressure on our food systems. However, acorn by-products hold great promise as a source of bioactive ingredients, offering solutions to maximize food utilization, promote upcycling, and introduce innovative nutritional and health benefits (Mahmud et al., 2022) . This potential is especially evident in acorns’ kernel, which is rich in valuable bioactive compounds suitable for the development of value-added products. The acorn kernel is highly abundant in phenolic compounds (e.g. tannins, quercetin, gallic acid), oil rich in fatty acids (e.g. oleic acid, linoleic acid), tocopherols, carotenoids (e.g. β-carotene), and phytosterols (e.g. β-sitosterol), which hold potential antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial effects (Szabłowska and Tańska, 2024). Moreover, starch recovered from the acorns’ kernel can be applied as a thickening and stabilizer agent in food formulations (Castro et al., 2024), and can hold promising characteristics, which can lead to the improvement of the gut microbiome. Objectives: The present work aimed to characterize the kernel flour from two acorn species: Quercus pyrenaica and Quercus rotundifolia, provided by LandraTech, in a way to valorize them, through potential food applications, promoting circular economy within the industry. Results and main conclusions: Overall, the valorization of the acorn raw materials, exemplified by the flours obtained from its kernel, not only offers promising ways for sustainable and novel food applications, but also underlines the importance of turning waste into valuable resources in the global food industry, as a circular economy approach. | pt_PT |
| dc.description.version | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion | pt_PT |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/47996 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | pt_PT |
| dc.peerreviewed | yes | pt_PT |
| dc.title | Acorn flours: a novel source of bioactives and nutritional benefits | pt_PT |
| dc.type | conference object | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| oaire.citation.conferencePlace | Portugal | pt_PT |
| oaire.citation.title | Encontro Ciência 2024 | pt_PT |
| rcaap.rights | openAccess | pt_PT |
| rcaap.type | conferenceObject | pt_PT |