Elaboración de una barra energética a base de quinua (Chenopodium quinoa), amaranto (Amaranthus caudatus L), chocho (Lupinus mutabilis sweet) y avena (Avena sativa) endulzado con jarabe de jícama (Smallanthus sonchifolius) para deportistas de alto rendimiento

Abstract

The health of the Ecuadorian population is compromised by the excessive consumption of fast food and unhealthy snacks, resulting from the adoption of unbalanced diets and poor dietary quality. High-performance athletes, when engaging in these behaviors, do not obtain quality nutrients and good digestibility necessary for their training, therefore, Andean products represent an excellent alternative for the elaboration of energy bars due to their high nutritional value. Chocho, quinoa, amaranth, oats and jicama were the selected raw materials. Three energy bars were formulated by adjusting the macronutrients of each raw material to the requirements of high-performance athletes, by balancing equations using the Gauss-Jordan method. After sensory evaluation, the formulation with the highest acceptability was subjected to texture, proximate composition and amino acid profile analysis. Formulation I, sensory outstanding, showed values of 45.10 newtons for both hardness and fracturability, 5.36 millijoules for elasticity and 0.55 millijoules for adhesiveness indicating good support and structure for the bar. In addition, it met the nutritional requirements for athletes, with percentages of 58.53, 10.18 and 15.89 for carbohydrates, lipids and proteins, respectively. Its caloric content of 389.42 in kilocalories covers approximately 12 percent of the recommended daily calories for athletes. The amino acids identified were 17, with glutamate being the most abundant with 61.42 milligrams of amino acid per gram of protein. Essential amino acids totaled 89.55 grams of amino acid per gram of protein, surpassing other formulations based on andean crops.