Physicochemical and sensory properties of novel muffins prepared with lutein & zeaxanthin-enriched egg yolk powder

Abstract

Lutein and zeaxanthin (L&Z) are lipotropic carotenoids that have been proven to be beneficial to humans, especially, for eye health. To develop novel L&Z-enriched functional foods, L&Z-enriched egg yolk powder (EEYP) was used instead of control egg yolk powder (CEYP) as the main ingredient of muffins with/without butter. Their physicochemical and sensory properties were determined. The results indicated that the L&Z degradation of EEYP muffins (about 10-18%) was significantly lower than CEYP muffins (over 20%) during baking process (p < 0.05). The color and textural properties revealed no significant difference between CEYP muffins and EEYP muffins without butter after baking process. Although EEYP muffins showed different physicochemical properties and higher acceptability, it is suggested to promote EEYP muffins without butter as a L&Z-enriched functional food due to the higher bioaccessibility of the compounds of interest.