{"id":304181,"date":"2026-02-18T11:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/304181\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T11:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:44:11","slug":"scientists-upcycle-sunflower-oil-waste-for-high-protein-nutrient-rich-bread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/304181\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists upcycle sunflower oil waste for high-protein, nutrient-rich bread"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists in Brazil have utilized sunflower oil waste to develop bread higher in protein, fiber, and antioxidants, as consumer demand for healthier alternatives to traditional wheat-based food pushes F&B research.<\/p>\n

The findings can help manufacturers use partially defatted sunflower seed flour, a by-product of industrial sunflower oil extraction, to formulate functional bread while reducing waste and supporting the circular economy in sunflower oil production.<\/p>\n

Sunflower seed flour or \u201cnugget\u201d has a high protein content \u2014 ranging from 40\u201366% (w\/w) \u2014 making it an alternative and \u201cpromising protein source\u201d compared to animal sources, the researchers note.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur aim was to optimize the reuse of sunflower seed flour considering its high protein and chlorogenic acid content,\u201d says lead author and biologist Leonardo Mendes de Souza Mesquita, at the Institute of Biosciences of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (IB-USP) in Brazil.<\/p>\n

Using sunflower seed flour increases the nutritional value of bread while also reducing the environmental footprint of sunflower oil production. The by-product is also a low-cost ingredient, since it is sold cheaply to avoid disposal, Mesquita adds.<\/p>\n

Replacing wheat flour<\/p>\n

The team replaced wheat flour with sunflower seed flour at levels ranging from 10\u201360% to evaluate its performance in baking.<\/p>\n

The findings, published<\/a> in ACS Food Science & Technology, revealed that breads formulated with sunflower seed flour contained significantly more protein and fiber than standard wheat bread.<\/p>\n

Bread with the highest substitution of sunflower seed flour reached 27.16% protein, compared with 8.27% in conventional bread. Antioxidant levels also increased alongside protein content.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result reinforces the potential of sunflower seed flour to promote health benefits associated with reducing oxidative stress,\u201d says Mesquita. He also notes strong inhibition of digestive enzymes, including \u03b1-amylase (92.81%) and pancreatic lipase (25.6%).<\/p>\n

This opens up opportunities to develop bread containing sunflower seed flour or its aqueous extract (made by mixing sunflower seed flour with water and filtering the mixture), which can slow the digestion of starches and fats for health benefits.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, higher amounts of sunflower seed flour impacted bread\u2019s appearance and texture. When sunflower seed flour made up 20% or more of the recipe, loaves became \u201csmaller and firmer,\u201d note the scientists. Changes in crumb structure increased the density and reduced softness.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, adding the aqueous extract managed to preserve the structure and texture of the breads, keeping them close to those of traditional wheat bread,\u201d says Mesquita. He explains that this approach can enable bakers to gain the nutritional benefits of sunflower flour while minimizing its negative effects on texture.<\/p>\n

\"breadBread formulated with different proportions of wheat flour (WF), sunflower seed flour (SF) and its extract (SFE) (Image credit: Leonardo Mendes de Souza Mesquita).<\/p>\n

Supporting the circular economy<\/p>\n

The research aims to explore productive uses for industrial leftovers, which when re-used, can reduce costs by 4%<\/a> and environmental impact by 11\u201319%.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransforming waste into products is a fundamental strategy for promoting a circular economy and reducing resource waste,\u201d says Mesquita. Partially defatted sunflower seed flour supports human health while also delivering environmental and economic benefits \u2014 addressing all three pillars of the circular economy.<\/p>\n

He adds that manufacturers want to move away from the traditional \u201cextract, produce, discard\u201d approach, keeping materials in circulation longer to maximize their value and regenerating resources at the end of each cycle.<\/p>\n

In this study, the team turned an overlooked by-product into a functional ingredient that enhances bread nutrition while reducing waste.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

Mesquita suggests that future research could explore whether sunflower seed flour\u2019s aqueous extract could fully replace sunflower seed flour or be blended with it in different ratios.<\/p>\n

Commercial bakeries could then determine which formulations work best at scale.<\/p>\n

The research involved researchers from Brazil\u2019s Multidisciplinary Laboratory of Food and Health at the School of Applied Sciences of the State University of Campinas in Limeira, and the Laboratory of Food Technology and Nutrition at the Federal University of S\u00e3o Paulo on its Baixada Santista campus.<\/p>\n

It received funding from the S\u00e3o Paulo Research Foundation through six projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists in Brazil have utilized sunflower oil waste to develop bread higher in protein, fiber, and antioxidants, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[11175,103,61,60,143547,143545,143546],"class_list":["post-304181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-fiber","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-protein-bread","tag-sunflower-oil","tag-sunflower-seed-flour"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}