Probiotic Ice Cream Manufactured with Weight Loss Ingredient

Abstract

Obesity is directly related to many deaths per year in the United States. The Surgeon General estimated obesity to cost $ billions a year. An ingredient, namely “Super Citrimax”, is marketed as a weight loss ingredient (WLI). Lactobacillus acidophilus is an extensively studied probiotic (good, helpful) bacterium. The objective was to determine the effect of various amounts of the WLI on the physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory characteristics of probiotic ice cream. The WLI “Super Citrimax” was incorporated at the rate of 0, 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5 g per 473 ml (pint) of ice cream. L. acidophilus was incorporated into all the pasteurized, homogenized and cooled ice cream mixes at the rate of 0.7% w/v mix. Product manufacture was replicated three times. The meltdown time for the first 15 ml of the ice creams with 3.0 and 4.5 g WLI was significantly lower compared to the control. The meltdown volume of the control after one hour was significantly lower compared to the ice creams with WLI at all concentrations. There were no significant (p ≤ 0.05) differences between the control and all treatments for standard plate counts. Control had significantly the highest lactobacilli counts followed by the ice creams with 1.5 g WLI. The ice creams with 3.0 and 4.5 g WLI had significantly the lowest lactobacilli counts. The flavor scores for the ice creams with 0, 1.5, and 3.0 g WLI were not different from each other but were higher than the ice cream with 4.5 g. Similar results were obtained for the flavor scores of the heat shocked ice creams. There were no differences in body and texture scores of any of the ice creams. The body and texture scores of the heat shocked ice creams with 0, 1.5, 3.0 g WLI were not significantly different from each other, but scores for the ice creams with 4.5 g were significantly lower than the ice creams with 0 and 1.5 g. Incorporation of WLI up to 3 g per 473 ml of ice cream did not influence its flavor. The use of WLI decreased meltdown time, increased meltdown volume, did not alter the standard plate counts, lowered the lactobacilli counts and did not influence sensory body and texture.