Development of a high-protein yoghurt-type product enriched with bioactive compounds for the elderly

The aim of this study was to design a nutrient-dense food product for the elderly population by adding bioactives-loaded double emulsion W/O/W into protein-rich yoghurt. A multiple bioactives-loaded double emulsion contained health-promoting berry polyphenols; vitamins C, B9 and B12 in the inner water phase; and vitamins A and D in the oil phase. A product with directly added bioactives was used as a control. Analysis of the nutritional composition of the developed product showed that it can contribute to the protein and vitamin demands of older people and it does not contain an increased amount of nutrients to limit for this group of consumers. The newly designed product exhibited typical non-Newtonian behaviour and stable colour throughout its shelf life. The stability of vitamins in the product after 20 days of storage was 80.0%, 70.37%, 54.14%, 94.04%, and 90.0% for vitamins B9, B12, C, D, and A, respectively. Results from the in vitro digestion analysis show that fortification of product by bioactives-loaded double emulsion (DE) did not hinder the release of vitamins during digestion but slowed down the release of polyphenols. Geriatric patients described the developed product as ‘comfortable’ because of good swallow and humidity and good product texture attributes.