Dried fruits as a source of Prebiotic Oligosaccharides and Soluble dietary fiber: The case study of fig.

Health diets require diversification of nutrients, supporting and promoting the traditional food products while keep finding new ways to their safeguard. Figs are nutritious and delicious products endowed with many health-benefiting nutrients. Drying contributes to widen their availability, diversify trade, and promote their nutritive value.

Recent research trends show that oligosaccharides (OS) and soluble polysaccharides non-digestible by human gut enzymes are of great interest for their health benefits and natural nutraceutical value.

Although dried figs nutritional quality has been well studied, there is a lack of knowledge on the matching of the OS and soluble dietary fiber (SDF) structural features and their potential health dietary benefits. PrOSFig project aims at valorizing dried figs OS as prebiotics and polysaccharides as SDF.

As an MSCA fellow, I propose to study at UAveiro the (i) drying processing, consumer perception and conservation of figs (ii) extraction and chemical characterization of dried figs OS and SDF.

This will allow to perform a secondment at UPorto to (iii) monitor the bioavailability and bioaccessibility of the OS and SDF and their interactions with fig polyphenols, and a second secondment at UMinho to (iv) carry out in vitro assessment of prebiotic properties.

This interdisciplinary approach in a relevant food research topic, draws a unique skill set and state-of-the-art in four different but complementary fields: (1) drying technology for producing healthy foods, (2) consumer acceptability of traditional dried fruits (3) food biochemistry via the application of spectroscopic techniques as tools for OS and SDF characterization, and (4) bio-engineering for evaluating the physiological aspects of OS and SDF related with gut microbiota.

The integration in these Universities dissemination and communication programs, as well as in their training activities, will support me to develop my career.