Healthy and functional meat products. Scientific evidence of the AFUSAN group

At present, it is considered that the consumption of meat and meat products is excessive and predisposes towards the most prevalent pathologies. Therefore, obtaining meat products with a “healthier” composition and even containing bioactive ingredients that make them functional, acquires relevance in health. General aspects about concept, obtaining methods and current significance in health of functional foods are given. The design of a functional meat product makes it possible to modify the nutritional composition of conventional meat products and ensure a longer shelf life and oxidative stability, as well as helping consumers to improve one or more bodily functions and/or to decrease the risk of suffering degenerative diseases. The publications on functional meat from the AFUSAN group and from other researchers related to the incorporation of whole foods such as nuts or algae into meat matrices, as well as different ingredients for which there is scientific evidence on their role. in health: glucomannans, spirulina, hydroxytyrosol, chia oil, silicon, designer triglycerides enriched in ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, polyphenols from carob pulp. Studies have been conducted in humans with high cardiovascular risk (e.g. overweight/obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, tobacco use) and in murine models (Wistar or Zucker fa/fa rats) in which hypercholesterolemia, fatty liver, obesity, or Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus was induced. Although each functional ingredient seems to induce specific changes, it can be pointed out that in many cases these functional foods, compared to conventional ones, are capable of exerting pleiotropic effects in murine models, improving the lipoprotein profile, reducing, among other aspects, oxidative stress and inflammation. In humans, relevant results on lipemia, thrombogenesis and oxidative stress should be highlighted. The use of a carob extract as a functional ingredient of restructured meat exerts multiple effects in models of Type 2 Diabetes at different stages of the disease, particularly in liver and colon, improving in this last organ, the antioxidant status, the integrity of the intestinal barrier and the microbiota plurality. These results suggest the benefits of consuming meat and conventional meat preparations for functional products, which ensure the supply of some nutrients via the meat matrix and eliminate those that imply health risks. The work ends by proposing future lines of action within the framework of a plural, functional and precision diet. Keywords: functional meats; meat shelf life; oxidative modifications functional effects; human; experimental models; obesity; non-alcohlic fatty liver disease; type 2 Diabetes