Formulación y elaboración de una bebida a base de semillas de chía (salvia hispánica l.) con inulina, edulcorada con estevia y sacarosa

Abstract

The growing consumer demand for healthy products that, in addition to providing essential nutrients, offer additional health benefits has driven the development of innovative functional foods. In this context, the present research aims to formulate and develop a chía-based beverage enriched with inulin and sweetened with stevia or sucrose, with the goal of evaluating its sensory acceptance and physicochemical characteristics. The base beverage was formulated with 1.5% chia, plus preservative, flavoring, and coloring. From this base, six treatments were formulated: T1 (3% inulin, sucrose), T2 (3% inulin, stevia), T3 (5% inulin, sucrose), T4 (5% inulin, stevia), T5 (7% inulin, sucrose), and T6 (7% inulin, stevia). Sensory evaluation of the formulations was conducted with 42 semi-trained panelists. In the first phase, a hedonic test was used to assess texture, flavor, aroma, and appearance; in the second phase, a preference test was conducted. The samples with the highest overall acceptability were subjected to physicochemical analysis of the final product. The results from the sensory evaluation demonstrate that formulations T5 (7% inulin, sucrose) and T6 (7% inulin, stevia) showed the highest overall sensory acceptability, with no significant differences between them but with significant differences compared to T1, T2, T3, and T4, particularly in attributes such as texture, flavor, aroma, and appearance. The physicochemical analysis of samples T5 and T6 indicates that the product meets the established regulatory requirements: pH (T5 y T6= 4.36 ±0.057), soluble solids (T5 = 12.83 ± 0.15 °Brix; T6 = 7.96 ± 0.057 °Brix), and acidity (T5 and T6 = 0.95 ± 0.20 meq/kg). Additionally, nutritional labeling parameters were determined, including total sugar content by HPLC (T5 = 7.77% and T6 = 1.32%), sodium (T5 = 35.15 ± 0.00 mg and T6 = 62.48 ± 6.76 mg), and fat (0,46) theoretical calculation. Moreover, the nutritional analysis revealed that the beverage is high in dietary fiber (7.18%), highlighting its prebiotic potential. These results indicate that the chía-based beverage enriched with inulin is not only sensorially accepted but also meets nutritional quality standards, positioning it as a healthy alternative in the development of functional foods.