4 Jul 2012 --- Researchers at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) have patented a biscuit which is made from teff flour, suitable for celiac patients, and, thanks to its nutritional properties, it is ideal for sportsmen, diabetics and people with anemia.

This biscuit is the result of researchers at the Department of Food Technology of the E.T.S Agronomics Engineering at the UPM. The biscuit was prepared by adding small amounts of natural ingredients to teff flour, which is a gluten free cereal used in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Thus, they avoided adding any type of fat or artificial thickener, unlike other free gluten food.

Its added value consists of its unique sensory attributes and nutritional value very high, which makes that the cookie is an interesting solution for different segments of the population (athletes, diabetics and people with anemia). It also has a lower price than similar products on the market.

One of the main problems of producers of cooked food derived from free gluten cereals is the modification of the rheological properties of mass due to that the viscoelastic gluten network is not developed.

Teff flour, an ancient crop in Ethiopia and Eritrea but unknown in Spain, are cereals whose flour is rich in carbohydrates of slow assimilation and in fiber. These compounds have a high capacity to absorb water and act also as binder in the dough, alleviating the problems deriving from the absence of gluten in cereal.

The product, patented by professors of the UPM Mº Jesús Callejo and Wendu Tesfaye, contain teff flour, suitable proportions of skimmed milk, nonfat plain yogurt, brown sugar, defatted cocoa powder, orange zest and hazelnuts.

They avoided including exogenous fat in order to reduce its caloric intake. Teff flour and the rest of ingredients have healthy nutrients and a high nutritional value. For example, 100 g of teff flour has on average between 9 and 15 g of proteins, 73 g of carbohydrates, 2 g of fat and 3 g of fiber. The essential amino acids content is also remarkable. It is rich in zinc and iron. In addition, teff flour has a low glycemic index resulting in a slow digestion of its carbohydrates.

For the above reasons, this new biscuit is of special interest to celiacs (teff flour are free gluten cereals), diabetics and sportsmen (teff flour is rich in slow absorption of carbohydrates) and people with anemia (teff flour is rich in iron and its absorption is enhanced with vitamin C of oranges).

According to the result of a tasting carried out by expert judges, these biscuits have unique sensorial properties (smell and taste) at a lower price than other products marketed for the population segments mentioned before.

In addition, the production of this biscuit does not involve additional costs for its adaptation of infrastructures of biscuit factories.

Therefore, this product can be marketed as soon as it is patented.

Source: Polytechnic University of Madrid