Honey adds health benefits, is natural preservative and sweetener in salad dressings

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Public release date: 9-Dec-2008

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/uoia-hah120908.php

Contact: Phyllis Picklesimer

p-pickle@...

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Honey adds health benefits, is natural preservative and sweetener in

salad dressings

Antioxidant-rich honey is a healthy alternative to chemical additives

and refined sweeteners in commercial salad dressings, said a new

University of Illinois study.

" To capitalize on the positive health effects of honey, we experimented

with using honey in salad dressings, " said Nicki Engeseth, a U of I

associate professor of food chemistry. " We found that the antioxidants

in honey protected the quality of the salad dressings for up to nine

months while sweetening them naturally. "

Engeseth's study substituted honey for EDTA, an additive used to keep

the oils in salad dressings from oxidizing, and high-fructose corn

syrup, used by many commercial salad-dressing producers to sweeten their

salad dressing recipes.

" We chose clover and blueberry honeys for the study after an analysis of

the sweetening potential, antioxidant activity, and phenolic profiles of

19 honeys with varying characteristics, " said the scientist.

The dressings were also compared to a control dressing that contained

ingredients found in current commercial salad dressings, she said.

Engeseth explained a problem the scientists encountered in using honey

in a salad dressing system. " Salad dressings are emulsions—they contain

oil and water; and to keep these ingredients together in one phase,

manufacturers rely on emulsifiers and thickening agents to avoid

thinning of the dressing and separation of the oil and water phase, " she

said.

When the researchers found that enzymes in the honey broke the emulsion

by attacking the starch that was used to thicken the dressing, they came

up with a new formulation that used xanthan gum as a thickening agent,

which they then used in all the dressings, she said.

The researchers then stored the dressings under various conditions,

including 37 degrees Celsius (accelerated storage) for six weeks and 23

degrees Celsius and 4 degrees Celsius for one year, followed by an

evaluation of their oxidative stability.

" After nine months of storage, both types of honey were as effective as

EDTA in protecting against oxidation or spoilage. Blueberry honey

performed slightly better than clover, " she said.

Engeseth said that many consumers prefer products with natural

ingredients and that salad dressings made with honey should appeal to

these consumers.

" There's such a wide range of salad dressings on the market--some unique

salad dressings as well as inexpensive products that perform

beautifully. If manufacturers are interested in developing salad

dressings that have a healthy twist, we've demonstrated that using honey

as both an antioxidant and a sweetener is one way to do this, " she said.

###

The article was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food

Chemistry. Co-authors are Carolyn Rasmussen of Kraft Foods, Sophia Leung

of Newlywed Foods, Lia M. Andrae-Nightingale, a former U of I graduate

student, and Xiao-Hong Wang and J. Schmidt of the University of

Illinois.

--

ne Holden, MS, RD

" Ask the Parkinson Dietitian " http://www.parkinson.org/

" Eat well, stay well with Parkinson's disease "

" Parkinson's disease: Guidelines for Medical Nutrition Therapy "

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